Evangelion - Lamentations
by Kai Li Kojiro
Summary: AU Fic: Lamentations: a Project. I have endeavoured to re-write the Evangelion series, all the way through, including the movies. This is my greatest work to date. Granted, my only work under thsi name. I have several other fics posted, however.
1. Lamentations 0:1

Authors' Note:  Evangelion Lamentations is set in a world somewhat different from the normal Eva world.  In this version, all the children have been given their Evas already, except Kaworu, who'll show later.  This story is about, and is told from the point of view of Kojiro Kai Li, an orphan from Izu province.  He has lived in relative isolation with his guardian Taki, who is also his Isshinryu karate sensei.  

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

**Lamentations 0:1**

**What Demons Lie Within?**

"It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young."

- Lamentations 3:27

Ikari.  Langley-Sorhyu.  Ayanami.  Ryouji.  Katsuragi.  Akagi.  Suzahara.  EVANGELION.

            They were all names that I thought I would only hear on TV, read in a magazine, or hear from a friend.  So distant, it was like they didn't truly exist anywhere except in the media.  Yet, they were all names I ended up knowing firsthand, names that I now can associate with a face, a personality, with my friends, with my rivals, with my enemies.  I guess it's always easier to start at the beginning, so that's where I'll start.

            My name is Kojiro, Kojiro Kai Li.  I had just moved into Tokyo-2.  My legal guardian, Taki, had sent me to school here, saying that it was better to get a Tokyo diploma than a small town one.  I had never known my parents, but whoever they had been, they had left me a lot of cash.  Turns out, life in Tokyo-2 sucked.  The kids at the school were a little less than accepting of me, seeing as it was my second day.  A girl I'd met the first day, Yoko Shinkeshi, was at the basketball court, watching the senior guys play basketball before the starting bell.  She was shorter than I was; thin, with long, black hair (with a reddish tint), and as what I considered to be very pretty.  It was kind of a bummer that the basketball guys commanded more of her attention than I did.   

            "Isn't Takahara great?"  She stared dreamily at him, as he ran up the court, dribbling.  He dodged past Ikizashi, and ran for a lay-up.  I waved my hand in front of Yoko's face.

            "Hello?  Anyone in there?"  Nope, at least, not until the bell rang.  She turned her stare away from the ball guys.  

            "Oh, hello, Kojiro.  Is that the bell?"

            "Yes, it is, and Yamatoshi Sensei is not going to be pleased."

            "Then let's get to class!" she said, and headed off.  I ran up behind her as we dodged into the classroom just as the bell finished ringing.  I dropped into my seat, and she did likewise.  Yamatoshi Sensei started to blather on about the Evangelions everyone was so interested in.  Yoko shot me a look of boredom, and typed a message on her in-desk networked computer.  Our school was very new, it seemed, built as an effort to draw more people to the slowly recovering city.  Hence, we had a lot of interesting gizmos around, including a new baseball field, advanced physics software, a nice library, and many more things, including these in-desk computers.  Her message popped up on my screen.

Well, new guy, lunch is only, lemme see, three hours away, maybe we can sneak off campus and get some real food!  Geez, this 'Evangelion' stuff can be so boring.  It seems like nothing too cool happens to kids here, just bullying.  Anyway, let's grab some grub together at lunch, neh?

            I smiled.  That was nice.  Yes, we could grab some lunch, besides, they really couldn't get too angry with me; I was the new guy.  I told her yes, and then just about dozed off.  I didn't think EVAs were boring, just out of reach for someone like me.  NERV puzzled me.  I wondered who was behind it, and why one of the pilots had the same last name as its director.  Ikaris Shinji and Gendou.  I wanted to find out about them.  

The lunch bell rang loudly, and Yamatoshi Sensei let us leave.  Yoko and I crept around to the back wall and climbed over easily.  We jumped down to the street, dusted ourselves off, and walked to a nearby Chinese restaurant.  We had two hours for lunch, part of a new program designed to help the children through the stress of living in the wrecked city.  Tokyo-2 psychologists, to whom we were all thankful, had devised this little plan.  Yoko ordered Sesame Beef, and I ordered General Tso's Chicken.  The order came quickly, and disappeared even quicker.  I paid the waiter, dropped a tip, and we walked back to the school. 

The wall we were getting back over was in the back of the school, near a student center.  Naturally, there were no windows on the back, just a door, leading to the kitchen of the center.  We had climbed to the top of the wall, via a tree next to it, and were concealed by foliage from view by people in the school.  We were about to drop down when we saw a boy from our class, Walker Oden, an American with red-dyed hair pushed around the building by one of the larger students, Orizashi Maki.  Maki was big for a Japanese, hell, he was big for anyone. Yoko had said that his mother was a German prostitute.   Walker had said during the class introductions that he knew Kung-Fu.  I wondered why he didn't do anything.  I found out.  Two more guys, Maki's buddies, a Japanese, Ori, and a German, Otto.  They grabbed a protesting Walker and held him.  Maki cracked his knuckles.

            "Hah!  You should have brought more money today.  You know how it works," He said.

            "Damn it!  I'm not paying you any more.  I lent you cash once, now you want everything!"  I looked at Yoko.

            "Kojiro, the last guy that messed with Maki got beat up so bad, they sent him to the hospital.  He died, head trauma.  Maki's dad paid off the cops.  Funded a 'Police Health Spa.'  We should help Oden-San," she whispered in my ear.  I nodded.

            "Stay here," I told her.  She opened her mouth to protest, but I jumped down from the wall to the floor below.  My landing alerted Maki.  He looked up, his fist back, ready to slug the helpless Walker.  

            "Hey, Maki, ever heard of a fair fight?"  His goons dropped Walker, who rolled back away from the, and came up in a fighting stance.  Maki approached me.

            "Oh, boy, you are due for a pounding.  You're the new guy, aren't you?"

            "Yeah, that's me."

            "That means you get your introductory pounding, _plus a bonus pounding for getting in my way now.  When I am done with you, you're gonna be eating out of a tube!"_

            "Why don't we avoid a potentially dangerous situation, and you can leave Walker and I alone."  Walker was beside me now, still in a fighting stance.  

            "Shit.  Kid, you're gonna get fucked up.  Hell, I might even kill a punk like you."

            "And then what?  Your daddy'll pay off the cops?"  Yoko asked, dropping off the wall, her school uniform's skirt fluttering up a little too high.  Maki stared at her too.

            "Oh, Ms. Shinkeshi, thanks for showing up.  You see, we'd never hit a girl."

            "I bet you wouldn't."  Her sarcasm was very heavily laid upon her sentence.  

            "Oh, I would never.  I've got a better idea about what we can do to you."  He whispered something to Otto and Ori, making them snicker loudly.  I think I knew what he had in mind.    

            "Sicko,"  I said.  He looked at me.

            "Now you're dissing me, too?  You are really gonna get your features re-arranged."

            "Are you gonna keep talking, Maki, or are you gonna do something?"  I asked.  Yoko was looking a little fazed.  Granted, they had just told her that they were going to rape her, I guess looking a little fazed was pretty good in a circumstance like that.

            "Yeah, I'm done talking.  Now, you, and your friends, die."  He charged us, I threw myself in front, and he came at me, wildly swinging his arms.  Yoko kicked off her shoes, and jumped out of the way of Ori, who was looking at her a little too lustily. Walker was already giving the German bully a run for his money.  Otto was catching kick after kick from the American.  

            "Oof!"  Otto fell, his leg swept from beneath him by the quick Kung-Fu footwork.  Walker could take care of himself, I had my hands full.  Maki was swinging his arms wildly.  Good, he couldn't be helping himself like that.  He threw a meaty fist at me.  I caught it.  He looked bewildered, such a little guy had caught his, the great Maki's, fist.  I smiled back at him, and twisted roughly.  I felt a gratifying snap, and Maki's wrist was bending a direction wrists didn't usually bend.  He looked angry now, if he hadn't before.  He punched with his other hand, expecting me to catch it, I guess.  Instead, I danced out of the way, jumped up, and kicked him in the side.  He fell over.  I turned to help Yoko, and found Ori with her in a painful armlock.

            "You're mine, bitch!  She slammed her heel on his boot, but the steel toe in the shoe stopped her.  She went limp, resigned, it seemed, to her fate.  I tapped his shoulder.  He looked behind him, and I kicked his leg out, at the knee, from the side.  I heard a snap, and he would have screamed, save that he passed out from the pain.  Having one's leg broken hurts.  He fell heavily, almost taking Yoko with him.  I grabbed her arm as he fell, and pulled her back.  She looked at me thankfully.  I let go of her, and she sat down near the wall.  Walker had succeeded in knocking Otto out, and was tying his arms with the boy's shoelaces.  I knelt, and did the same too Ori, and proceeded to Maki, but realized that he wasn't there.  We dragged the two we had bound, and threw them in the dumpster behind the student center.  Yoko was still against the wall, looking shocked.  I helped her up, and held her.  I guess she had just been so resigned to what they were going to do to her that she had gone into some type of low-level shock.  I didn't know why that was, though.  Perhaps she was sheltered, or maybe had a bad experience as a child.  Whatever it was, she was clutching to me, eyes closed, breathing deeply.  I put my arm around her, unsure of what to do, when I was struck from behind.  Maki had hit me.  Walker came flying through with a jump kick.  Yoko flew from my grip.  Maki reached his hand into his pocket, drew out a thin black object, and it turned into a blade.  A switchblade knife, I realized.  He lunged at me.  I kicked his hand, the knife flew away, and I beat his arm away from me, shot my hand to his throat, grabbed at his trachea, crushed it, and pulled towards myself.  He gurgled, and began to spit blood.  I kicked him in the side, and he dropped.  Walker stared in wide-eyed horror at the gurgling body on the ground.  Yoko was lying on the ground.  I picked her up.  Her eyes were watering now.  She looked into my eyes, and then down at the ground, and started to cry.  I held her.  Walker was still looking at Maki.  Blood and saliva had mixed where his mouth was, creating a  pool of pinkish liquid.  We left quickly.  I was carrying Yoko.  Walker thought we should leave.  I told him that we had to go to the principle's office, and relate the story.  I lead the way, Yoko in my arms, and Walker following behind me.  Walker opened the door, and we entered.  I lay Yoko down on the couch, amazing the secretary, and Walker sat down next to her.  The secretary was still staring.  I knocked on the principle's door, and was told to come in.  I presented myself, bowed, and said my name.  The Principle, whose desk said, 'Kastuhida Jisan.'  He nodded his head, and motioned for me to sit.

            "You are new, are you not?"

            "Yes, Sir."

            "What brings you here?"  He seemed tense, solemn, and very honorable.  His graying hair held its receded line halfway back upon his head.  His face was creased, and his eyes were dark.  I tried to relate the story, with as much detail as possible, including as much as I could of the dialogue.  He frowned.

            "So, you left school grounds?"

            "Yes, Sir."

            "And you took actions that presented the possibility of harm to another student?"

            "Yes, Sir."

            "And you got in a fight?"

            "Yes, Sir."

            "And you took actions that may lead to the death of Orizashi Maki?"

            "Yes, Sir."  I bowed my head.  

            "And it was in self defense."

            "Yes, Sir."

            "In a life-threatening situation?"

            "Yes, Sir."

            "You did what I would have done."  He scowled, not at me, per se, but more at something not in the room, intangible.  He returned his gaze to me.  I was too dumbfounded.  I had expected him to call the cops, but instead, he had told me I had done the right thing.  I didn't know what to say.

            "Do you remember what the other student, Ms. Shinkeshi, told you about how he had killed a boy some time last year?"

            "Yes, Sir."

            "That boy was Katsuhida Yoshi, my son."  No one could prove it was Orizashi that did it.  I knew.  The police said that he had fallen.  But I saw the knife wounds, that doesn't happen when you fall."

            "I... I see, Sir.  My apologies."

            "Don't apologize. Orizashi deserved what he got, what you gave him.  I'm only glad that you came along.  My son cannot thank you, but I can.  He stood, and bowed to me.  I looked back at him.  

            "I..."  I said.

            "There will be no charges.  There will be no police investigation.  He will be taken to the hospital.  The school will claim that he had an accident, like my son did,"  The principal looked me in the eye, "Unfortunately, not you, nor your friends can stay here.  You'll have to leave.  I will have to send you to... Tokyo-3.  All three of you.  The letters will be made up nicely, to make it look official, the school will pay for an apartment for the three of you to share, etc.  Pack your bags.  And, if possible, stay together, Maki's father will not buy the ruse for long.  He knows whose son his boy killed."  The man's eyes watered, and her turned away, to his window.  I bowed, and walked out the door.

            Yoko looked at me groggily from the couch.  Walker was pacing, much to the secretary's annoyment.  I lifted Yoko from the couch, and she seemed to drift back off to sleep.  Walker and I left, and were walking to Yoko's house.  Her parents weren't home, and we used the key in her pocket.  Walker opened the door, and I walked in sideways to get Yoko in my arms.  The house was spacious, nice for Tokyo-2.  Yoko's room's door was open, and I set her down on the bed.  I sat next to her, and called her name several times, trying to wake her.  Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked at me strangely, seeming curious as to why we were at her house, in her room.  I told her what had transpired.  

            "We're... being transferred?"

            "Yeah, don't worry, we've got everything we need, pack what you need for a week or so, and then we can have the rest sent later.  And you should change out of your uniform, we need to be low key getting to Tokyo-3."  She sat, and after several seconds, looked at me funny.

            "Well?" She asked.

            "Well what?"

            "Are you going to get out so I can change?"  She looked at us suspiciously.

            "Yeah, we're goin'."

            "And no peeking!" 

            "Yeah, yeah."  We closed the door and sat in the living room on the couch. I heard her opening drawers in her room, and throwing things into a bag.  I heard the closet open  and close several times.  She emerged ten minutes later in a pink t-shirt that had some band's name on it and a pair of jeans.  American fashion.  We locked the house, and went to Walker's.  He gathered his things, and we proceeded to my apartment.  The door was open.  I went in cautiously...  And found a gun in my face.  

            "Mr. Kai Li," said the holder of the gun.  "My name is Orizashi Takawara.  My son is dead.  His friends claim it was your fault, that you attacked him.  The school naturally claims that he had an accident.  And now you will too, murderer."  Walker disarmed him with a kick. He had been concentrating on me so hard he hadn't seen them come in.  Seconds later, Walker was knocked to the ground by another man.  

            "Fool!" said Orizashi, "did you think I came unprepared?"  Two more men came into the room, and then Orizashi picked up his gun.  He aimed it at me, and I heard the shot before I fell.  Nothing happened.  I guess I was dead.  I opened my eyes, and Orizashi's gun was on the other side of the room, the two men turned their guns, but fell to two more shots.  Orizashi cowered back into a corner.  A man in a neat suit came in.  He was thin, brown hair spiked up.  He kept his gun trained on Orizashi.  

            "No time for introductions, Kai Li, let's go!"  I figured it was best to go with him, as opposed to staying with Mr. Orizashi.  We ran out, and, locking Orizashi in, left the apartment complex behind.  The man's car was nice, big, and American.  He put his sunglasses on the dash, and drove off towards the airport. 

            "I am Don Phillipe."  He spoke with an Italian accent.  Yakuza, by the looks of him.  

            "You're a Yak, aren't you?"  I asked.

            "You could say that.  I'm on loan from Don Giovanni in Venice."

            "What do you have to do with us?"  Asked Yoko.

            "You could say that maybe a higher power presented me with a small fortune as a safety deposit on your lives.  I am supposed to take you to the airport, where you'll be put on their private jet to Tokyo-3."  I wondered if the principal had hired him.  He looked like he was probably pretty dangerous.  Yakuza were, but he was Italian Mafia, I wondered why he was here in Japan, on loan, as he called it.  I asked him that much.

            "The Yakuza have been having trouble with the government.  So much American influence, it's made them almost powerless.  They had some connections, so did Don Giovanni.  One thing leads to another, here I am."  I suddenly remembered something.

            "Shit!  My stuff, we forgot to get my stuff," I said.  Phillipe just nodded.

            "It's in the trunk.  Don't worry, you're set.  There's a suitcase waiting for each of you at the airport, it's got some more stuff in it for you, from my employer."  I figured that the school wouldn't be about to give us suitcases full of stuff.  The employer was obviously someone with a lot of cash, and very generous.  When we came to the airport, we were driven around to a side gate, where Phillipe parked the car, accompanied us to a small hangar, containing a prop plane that was painted black.  He pointed to three suitcases with silver handles, and each of our respective names engraved on them.  We tossed our clothing bags into the cargo hold, and got on the plane.  I wondered why we weren't taking a train, but figured that whoever was in charge had their reasons.  Phillipe waved goodbye as the door closed on its own, leaving us in the black plane.  I noticed that there were no windows.  It was pitch black inside, and I reached for a light switch, and found none, but didn't think much of it, seeing as planes rarely had light switches just any old place.  I could feel Yoko brush up against me in the darkness.  She seemed nervous.  Perhaps she'd never flown before, or perhaps being thrown onto a dark plane by a Mafioso, and then locked in the dark was a little too much for her right now.  The plane taxied, and I decided it would be best to be on the floor when it took off to we wouldn't be thrown backwards with turbulence.   With no visible handhold, it would be good to get a better base on the floor.  

            "Everyone sit down.  We need more stability, we're taking off," I said.  I heard Walker sit noisily on his suitcase, and felt Yoko sit next to me.  I reached for her hand.  I could hear the engines roaring now, and we were moving quickly.  Yoko was closer to me now.  I could feel her pulse quickening.

            "Why do you think they're doing this?" she asked shakily.  I realized I was nearly as frightened as she was.  Planes weren't supposed to be like this.  At least Japan Airways wasn't like this.  

            "I don't know, but we'll get out of this, trust me."  I put an arm around her, and felt her lean against me.  In that, I guess we both felt a little safer. I closed my eyes, turning darkness to darkness.

            "Do I get a hug too?"  asked Walker laughingly.  How could he tell...  I opened my eyes.  The lights were on.  Yoko had her arms around me.  Her eyes were closed.

            "Sorry about that, kids," came a voice over the PA, "our cabin power was messed up, but the technician fixed it.  Yoko had fallen asleep.  I picked her up, and set her on the chair (there were four) nearest me.  I strapped her in.  Walker and I decided to look at the contents of our suitcases.  His contained a bag with toiletries, an expensive designer suit, a school uniform for Tokyo-3, a map of the city, a device that looked like a palm-pilot (except much more complicated), several sets of clothing that had zips up the front, and were gray in color.  On one arm was printed a red maple leaf, with the letters NERV.  I remembered that symbol, but from where, I couldn't remember.  There was a note, instructing him to put on the gray suit.  Mine contained the same things, with a weird rubber suit in it.  

            "Kinky..."  I said.  Walker snickered.

            "You think they gave one to Yoko, too? You two would make quite a couple," He said, I punched him in the arm.  The suits in mine were not gray, but black.  My note said to put them on, and to keep the 'plug-suit,' whatever that was, in the suitcase.  Walker and I quickly put on the suits, hoping not to wake Yoko.  When  we were done, she was still asleep.  We pulled out the computers, and turned them on, and found our names already registered, and an Internet connection built in.  Strangely, the hard drives on the tiny machines were over forty Terabytes.  I didn't know how they got that much on there.  These weren't available for sale.  I guessed NERV had something to do with the Government.  Yoko stirred.  She yawned, and we told her about everything that had happened.  She grabbed a suit (hers were beige) from her suitcase, and changed.  We sat in the seats, as the voice had advised us to, seeing as we were landing.  We landed, not too gently, and the door opened.  We pulled our suitcases out and placed them on a cart containing our other bags.  It was surreal.  The plane was now in a closed room, and it almost felt as if the room was moving.  Down.  It was a giant elevator.  It was, however, moving quite slowly, and we sat on the cart with the bags, discussing quietly what was on all of our minds, namely, what the hell had happened.  Yoko was more awake than both of us, seeing as she had slept.  We finally reached the stopping point with a loud clang.  

The doors opened, and a young woman stood in the doorway.  She had blue hair, and was wearing a red suit.  She smiled.  "Hello there!  My name is Misato Kasuragi, and I'm the operations director for NERV.  You must be Kojiro, Walker and Yoko.  I guess you must be tired.  Just come with me, and we'll get you checked in, and take you to your apartment."  She seemed nice enough.  We followed her down the narrow corridor.  She handed us nondescript papers on a clipboard, which she told us to sign.  We were so tired we didn't really care what we were signing anyway.  She then handed us three ID cards, which displayed our pictures and identification jargon.  I noticed a tall guy following us down the hallway who I hadn't seen before.   We passed a room with an open door, and I noticed a dejected looking boy with brown hair inside.  He couldn't have been older than me.  Standing across a desk from him was a man with a beard, and orange sunglasses who said something that I couldn't remember, but his intonation was harsh.  Even after we had passed the door I could still hear the man barking at the boy.  

Misato stopped at a large metal door.  Beside it, a keypad protruded from the wall.  Misato punched in a few numbers and the doors slid open.  Behind the door was a wide platform, and behind the platform was a gargantuan metallic face.  I heard Walker and Yoko gasp in utter amazement.  I remember wondering what the hell it could've been.  I was about to ask Misato when she gestured for us to approach the platform, and my question was answered.  It was an Evangelion.  It was one of the giant robots my sensei spoke of so many times in class.  These were the protectors of the earth.  Suddenly, Misato spoke.  "This, as you probably guessed, is an Evangelion, or as they are more commonly known, an Eva.  You've all learned about them in school.  These are mankind's last line of defense."

I was unbelievably bewildered.  "Yes…we know…but…why have you brought US here?" I stammered confusedly.

            "This is yours," she said, 

            "Mine?"  I couldn't believe my ears.

            "Yes.  When you signed that paper, you signed NERV's contract.  You're now the Fifth Child, pliot of Eva unit 4..  Congratulations, Pilot Kai Li."

            I was still thunderstruck.  Me?  An Eva pilot?  I tried to speak, but I only stammered; "I…I don't…but what about…I thought that…"

            "Hmm?"  Misato, seeing my confusion.

            "Why are they allowed here, to see this?" I asked, pointing to Yoko and Walker, "Isn't the EVA Project classified?"

            "It IS classified.  They are staff now; they signed their service in as well. We knew that they would be sent here, because of the transfer orders the Department of Education sent us." Finally, some explanation, I thought.  "Shame about that boy, though." Misato added.

            "You know about that?  I thought not even the police..." I blurted out.  She smiled again.  She liked to do that.

            "We have sources.  Anyway, in seeing that your friends would be housed with you, accompanying you, etc, we decided we might be able to give them employment.  It would avoid complications.  Granted, our resources aren't unlimited, so you have an expense account.  They do not.  Their payment is the fact that NERV is picking up their education and housing expenses.  Hey, we might pay for their food, too.  Now, you'll all find some more documents explaining your duties back at the apartment, and dinner too.  Have fun!"  She escorted us out, warning us to keep hush-hush about the Evangelion we'd been shown.  She drove us to our apartment and helped us get our stuff to the door.  She handed us each a key, and left.  I unlocked the apartment.  The door swung open, and we stepped inside.  It was already furnished, and an expensive video-game system sat by the TV.  Walker did a silent victory dance.  I walked around, sizing up the small apartment.  There were two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room.  Yoko had already claimed the larger bedroom.  Walker deposited his stuff in the other bedroom.  Well, it looked like I had the couch.  It also meant that I got the Playstation 4.  I tossed my stuff on the floor, and made a bed out of a towel and two shirts.  I lay down, and waited my turn in the shower.  Yoko got out first.  She came into the living room, wrapped in a towel.  

            "You can go in now. I'm done."  I realized I probably shouldn't be staring at her the way I was.  I shook it off, and walked past her into her room, and then into the shower room.  I undressed, threw my clothes into the corner.  I stepped into the hot water.  A shower was great after that day.  Fights, school, and the plane flight from hell. I was pretty tired. I stepped out of the shower… and realized I didn't have any clean clothing to change into.  I wrapped a towel around my waist, and opened the door to Yoko's room.  She was lying on the bed, loose pajamas on.

            "Hey, will you do me a favor?"  I said.  She looked up.

            "Huh?"

            "Go grab some clothing from my suitcase, please."

            "Sure."  She disappeared out the door, and returned, carrying a clean set of clothing.  She handed it to me.  

            "Thanks."  I pulled myself back into the bathroom, and slipped into the loose, comfortable clothing.  I wasn't sure as to where it came from, and at that point, I didn't much care.  I came out, and she was back on her bed.  

            "Well, goodnight, Yoko."

            "Hey, don't go yet, c'mere."  I walked over to the bed, and sat down.  She smiled up at me.  "Thanks.  Thanks for being there for me today.  It brought back some bad memories.  It was nice to have someone to count on."  She closed her eyes. I made to get up, but she put a hand out, to restrain me.  I sat back down.  She opened her eyes.

            "You should get some rest, Yoko, we have a big day tomorrow, what with NERV and all."

            "Not just yet,"  She sat up, and kissed me on the cheek, "now, you go get some rest."  I got up and went out to lie down on the couch.  

            "Goodnight, Yoko."

            "Goodnight, Kojiro."

            With that it went silent.  The couch was alright for sitting, but not for sleeping.  For one thing, it was a little too short, for another, it was kind of hard.  As a result, I tossed and turned quite a bit.  I guess Yoko heard me.

            "Hey, Kojiro…"  

            "Yeah?"

            "I couldn't sleep.  It's all too weird."

            "Neither could I.  It seemed like we were kind of suckered into that one.  I mean, now we work for NERV?  You guys too?  Why the hell is this happening to us?"  She looked surprised.  I showed her one of the papers from in my suitcase.  It stated that she was Tech Support for units 03 and 04.  Walker was a hand-to-hand combat trainer for all the pilots.  I guess someone that good is hard to find these days.  

            "So, do you know why would  they hired you as tech?"

            "Well, I used to do a lot of computer work for the school…"

            "Oh.  Well, you should get some sleep, I figure I won't, but I'll be all right.  Now, come on, go get some sleep."  She wasn't too happy with the idea of my being awake all night, but eventually shuffled off to her room.  I lay back down on the couch and tried to meditate.  It's hard when you realize that the world is suddenly depending on you.  Fed up with that, I pulled out the data on the other pilots.

**FIRST CHILD**

Ayanami rei

Unit-00, Unit-00'

Age: 14

Eyes: Red

Hair: Blue

Psychological Analysis:  Classified below Level 3

**Second Child**

Soryu Asuka lAngley

Unit-02

Age: 14

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Red

Psychological analysis:  Classified below Level 3

**Third Child**

Ikari Shinji

Unit-01

Age: 14

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Brown

Psychological Analyisis; classified below Level 3

  
**Fourth Child**

Suzahara Touji

Unit-03

Age: 14

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Black

Psychological analysis:  Classified below Level 3

**Fifth Children**

Kai Li Kojiro

Unit-04

Age: 14

Eyes: Blue  
Hair: Black

Psychological Analysis: Classified below Level 3

**Sixth Children**

Information Classified

                        I wondered what all these people were like, other than pictures and video I'd seen of them.  Next to each entry was a picture of  the pilot, except for the Sixth Child.  I dropped the paper on the top of my open suitcase next to the couch, and fell asleep.  


	2. Lamentations 0:2

**Lamentations 0:2** Wisdom of an Angel 

"My sins have been bound into a yoke;

by his hands they were woven together.

They have come upon my neck

And the Lord has sapped my strength.

He has handed me over

To those I cannot withstand."

- Lamentations 1:14

            I awoke to the sun streaming down annoyingly into my face.  I rolled over, and dropped right onto my suitcase, causing its metal reinforcements to hit me in the head.

            "Ouch!"  Yoko and Walker, already awake, were in the next room, I could hear their voices, and now they came quickly to see what had happened.  I sat up, rubbing an aching forehead.  Yoko was stifling a laugh.  Walker chuckled.  I glared, and stumbled off to the shower.  

            Coming to breakfast, I found a bowl of fermented soybeans, eggs, and a few cans of beer in the fridge.  I ate some of the beans.  Walker and Yoko helped themselves to eggs.  We dressed in our suits, and set out to the NERV office.  My cell phone rang.

            "Hello?"

            "Yes, Pilot Kai Li?"

            "Uh, Yes."

"You are to report in twenty minutes to NERV HQ.  Is that understood?"  A man's voice, matter of fact, and to the point.

            "Yes, Sir."  He hung up.

            "We've gotta get there quick.  I called up a map on the min-computer.  It showed us a red path directly to the Geofront.  After following it for ten minutes, we came to a numbered door, and proceeding through, went down a sloping hallway, all painted white.  We emerged from it at another numbered door, with a card-slide.  I slipped my card through, the others did as well, and we found ourselves in another hallway when the door opened.  We emerged from a door at its end onto a small landing.  Two escalators were attached to it, one arriving, and one departing.  We boarded the departing one.  Now that I was awake, NERV was pretty fantastic.  We descended the long escalator for floors to a landing.  An elevator was the only way off the landing other than the escalator back up.  I pressed the button, and it slid open.  It was small, and lit with a yellow tinted light.  We pressed the button for the floor that the computer said the main offices were on.  The elevator shot down at an alarming rate.  We were jolted to a halt at the floor and the doors slid open with a ding.

We were in a dark hallway, done in stained mahogany, with a floor of polished black stone.  The floor was carved with religious symbols, some of which I recognized as Jewish.  We proceeded along it, to a black door.  Looking back through the poor lighting, I couldn't even see the elevator.  The door slid open.  A man wearing glasses was seated behind a desk in the middle of the room facing us.  I recognized him as the man who was yelling at the boy in the room that we had passed the previous day.  Behind him stood another man.  The gazes of the two seemed to drill through me, and into my companions behind me. 

"My name is Commander Ikari Gendo.  I am NERV's Commander-In-Chief.  Because of your present situation, and because of your respective talents, you will be working for NERV until such time when circumstances present themselves in such a way as to terminate your contracts."  I wanted to look at how my friends reacted to these words, but somehow I was unable to turn my eyes from the mirrored glasses of our new Commander.

"You three are to report to Eva operations meeting in thirty minutes.  Also, you will find the name and address of your school available from any of the current four pilots.  Yes, you are expected to go to continue school and study as well as working at NERV.  You are dismissed, take the door behind me to the main chambers.  Ayanami Rei will be waiting for you."

            "Yes, Sir."  We walked down the aforementioned passageway, which was just like the one we had entered from.  Sure enough, when we exited it, a girl with short blue hair was waiting.

            "Hello.  Welcome to the Geofront."  Her voice was coldly emotionless, and was very soft, yet seemed almost perfect in intonation.  She fixed me with red eyes, and I stared back.  She nodded, the icy fire breaking from my face.  I shook my head, trying to clear it.  She led us to another room, down the hallway, which was now white.  Her footsteps made no sound as she padded down the hallway.  A door slid open to her, and we found ourselves in a large conference room.  The other children were there, along with Misato, a blond scientist, and several people in beige suits, which I assumed were techs.  Next to Misato sat a man with brown hair in a ponytail.  Misato introduced us.  The redhead, Asuka, muttered something about beating me any day.  It looked like her temper was as fiery as her hair!  Ayanami was sitting alone on one end  of one of the benches.  On the other end was the first boy, Ikari Shinji.  Suzahara Touji was leaned back, hands behind his head on the foremost bench.  Misato introduced them all, and they stood and bowed, except Asuka, who gave me an irreverent nod.  I found that the blond scientist was Akagi Ritsuko.  The Techs were Maya, a cheerful woman with cropped brown hair, and two men whose names I soon mixed up and then forgot.  I proceeded to call them both 'computer dudes.'  Touji showed us to a room containing vending machines, and I helped myself to real food.  Yoko was shown to the tech center by Maya and Ritsuko, and we didn't see here for the rest of the day.  Walker stayed with me.  First, we pilots were put through a synch test.  It was basically for me, seeing as I'd never been through one before.  Asuka seemed angry when my synch score was only three points below hers.  Shinji seemed surprised.  I didn't know how to feel,  it was just a number to me, and besides, Misato and Ritsuko talked me through it.  Asuka seemed pretty pissed anyway, and I wondered what her problem was.  Touji was kind enough to explain.

            "Yeah, I see you have met the fiery side of Asuka.  Congratulations,"  He said.

            "Yeah, what's she so pissed about?"

            "You, my friend," he clapped me heartily on the back, "are in her way.  She has always been top dog around here.  Did I say dog?  Well, that's true too, she is kinda bitchy about everything, and I mean everything.  But, hey, she's cute. But, seriously, Kojiro, she's trouble. Stay outta her way, dude.  Shinji's gotten in her way before, consequently, he is repeatedly beaten.  Don't go down the Shinji path."

            "Hmm.  She's always like that huh?"  I asked.

            "Uh huh, she's always giving me a hard time," Shinji said, his voice quiet next to Touji's.  He seemed like the kind of guy who was always nervous.  He didn't talk a lot either, I guess he just didn't want to open up much.  Rei was strange too, I guess perhaps they'd have made a good couple.  There were a few more things that I would have asked, but we arrived at the hand-to-hand combat class now.  It was being taught by a thin, lanky guy called Ken.  He looked me up and down, and then asked me to spar against him, to evaluate my skills.  He bowed, I did too, and we dropped into fighting stances.  He flung a high roundhouse kick to the head.  I grabbed it and pulled.  He fell to the mat.

            "Slippery mat," he muttered, Touji nearly burst out laughing.  He kicked again once he stood up.  Again, he found the mat.  Every time he fell, he got angrier, and that made him less exact.  Soon enough, he stopped using kicks.  He came at me with a hard lunge punch.  Instead of blocking and stepping back, I blocked, and went towards him, driving a punch into his solar plexus quickly.  He fell over, gasping.  Gendo walked into the room, and handed him a paper that announced his immediate transfer to another sector of NERV, maintenance.  Walker entered the room, just as Ken left.  He introduced himself, and I noticed that Gendo had disappeared.

"Do not meddle in the affairs of Gendo, for he is in charge and pays your salary."

            Walker gave a lesson about correct stance, and ways to use it to turn opponents attack against him.  Touji seemed to like the lesson.  Shinji looked on in bored interest.  Asuka had a look of superiority on her face that I realized was all too common.  Ayanami Rei sat, attentive yet relaxed, in the front row.  Walker finished the lesson, and we were ushered to our plugs again for a riflery test.  I was submersed again in LCL, a feeling I didn't like too much.  It was like water filling your lungs, except it was warm, and tasted like blood.  It cleared as the Eva activated.  Now it was as clear as air, and it didn't really feel like I was breathing liquid.  Targets popped up in the simulated environment.  I picked up the guns, aimed, and pulled the trigger.  The target fell, hit by Asuka's shot a second before mine.  She laughed over the comm., and blasted another.

            "You can't beat me now, new guy!"  She yelled.  I targeted another target, and fired.  It fell, but I had hit it, not Asuka.  She set her face, and fired at more, her machine guns blazing, rattling, spitting bullets at targets.  I had pistols, not as powerful, but still enough.  I'd seem James Bond do this on TV, and figured it wasn't that hard. Besides, I'd already hit one.  I sighted again, pulled the trigger, the target fell.  Asuka was rattling off more shots.  She had gotten quite a few, and I didn't know if I could beat her.  I cranked off a few more shots.  I missed quite a few to begin with, but once I had learned to adjust for the kick of the gun, I hit quite a few more.  Asuka was still beating me.  She had incredible aim.  The simulation ended, Asuka ahead of me still.  The final count showed her with thirty targets, me with twenty two, Shinji with eighteen, Touji with nineteen, and Ayanami with eighteen.  Asuka smirked at me.  It was time for our break, and we were allowed to use a room near the changing rooms to sit and talk, although we were not permitted to take off our plugsuits yet.  I knew better than to try and strike up conversation with Ayanami.  So, instead, I turned to Touji.  He seemed like he was someone I could get along with, he was a fighter, and he didn't seem as messed up as the rest of them.

            "So, what's the school like here?"  I asked.

            "Well, the rest of the pilots attend.  There some pretty cool guys in the class, but the teacher drones on about second impact a lot.  Sports is cool enough, though, the teacher's alright.  Young guy.  And besides, we're in view of the pool, which is where the girls have sports, and we get a good show from the sidelines, if you know what I mean."  He nudged me rougly in the ribs with his elbow.

            "Yeah, I hear ya."  Okay, so maybe he wasn't _exactly like me, but he was cool enough.  Shinji walked over to us.  He was holding a hadnful of snack packets from the vending machines in the corner.  He tossed some to Touji and I, and some to Asuka and Rei, safely from his end of the table.  _

            "I don't know why you're so nice to her!"  Touji said.  

            "To who?" asked Shinji.

            "Asuka, look how's she's always treated you!  You really don't stand up for yourself."

            "Really, Touji, she's sufferable," said I.

            "Yeah, sure, to you.  You don't even try!"  Shinji looked dismayed at this.  Touji clapped him on the back.

            "Hey don't get down, dude.  It's all gonna be all right in the end."  

            "Yeah, sure," said Shinji, having not as much faith in it as Touji.  We would have talked longer, but that was when the bells rang.  Sirens, rang, klaxons blared, it was like a weird sci-fi movie.  The others dissapeared out the door.  I wondered where they'd gone.  Ayanami appeared in the door.

            "We are to report to the Eva cages.  There has been an Angel sighted," she said.  I followed her to the 'cages', which were giant holding bays for the Evas.  Unit-00 stared down at me from one, Ayanami pointed to Unit-04 down the way quite a bit, and then climbed to her entry plug.  I ran to Unit-04, and climbed hesitantly towards the plug.  I wondered if I would end up as Angel food in this, my first battle.

            "Finally, a battle!"  Asuka sounded optomistic.  The Evas had been revealed to the public earlier, in order to raise support and morale, but they'd never been tested in actual battle.  All the pilots had done was run simulations so far.  Now an Angel had penetrated the defensive barrier of Tokyo-3.  Though we were all told to report to the Evas, only Shinji and Rei were sent up.   Everything was silent, except for Asuka whining about how she should have gone.  Only once did we get communication from the service.  It was a muffled scream.  Moments later, we were given orders to launch.  As I shot up the launch shaft I could see floor numbers ticking away.  Sunlight flooded my view suddenly, and I was able to see the destruction.  00 was on the ground, it's body showed signs of heavy impacts to it.  Shinji was locked in combat with what seemed to be a giant human.  It had a peculiar head that came to a sharp point below it's collarbone area.  It was green and gray mostly, but I could see a red circle in its chest.  It grabbed Shinji's head and a pink beam shot out of its elbow.  The beam retracted quickly, and shinji's head gave a jolt.  He screamed.  The beam came out and smashed back in.  Shinji was whimpering now.  It came out again but, before it could smash Shinji again, Touji tackled it, knocking it off the disabled Unit-01.   I realized I had been standing idly, and rushed in to help Shinji.  Asuka was rigth behind me.  I hit the button corespondiong to the Progressive Knife.  It souned like a weapong, and I could use any I got.  A large handle shot out of Unit-04's shoulder fin.  It was curved, and was very ornate.  Asuka had her knife out, but it had a shorter, less fancy handle.  I caught the handle, and just as my hand clamped, a blade shot from it.  It continued on past the length of Asuka's knife, and, when finished must have been eighty feet long.  It wasn't a knife.  It was a sword. I grabbed the handle two-handed,  and rushed to the aid of the other two.  It now had Asuka in the same hold as it had held Shinji.  She struggled, pulling at the hand gripping her head.  Touji was hit with a particle weapon as he came to her aid.  The pink energy beam knocked him back into a building.  His head snapped into a building, and he went limp.  I swung the long, curved blade down at the Angel's arm.  The hand dropped off, and Asuka fell backwards, she wrenched it off her head as she rolled up into a fighting stance.  The stump on the Angel's arm regrew into a hand.    

            "Shit, Kojiro."  She looked at me.  Her eyes flared, and she rushed in.  I followed, charging, sword held ready.  Asuka dove in, rolled and pounded a fist at the red circle on its chest.  The KOA, Asuka had explained, was it's power source, if we destroyed that, we won.  She punched hard, and the angel caught her hand, garbbed her head, and prepared to brain hammer her.  I couldn't hit the Koa with the sword, I might hurt Asuka.  Then I spied her Progressive Knife, lying on the ground where the Angel had knocked it from her hand.  I rolled on my way towards the Angel, garbbed it, and came up.  The Angel was concentrating on Asuka.  I dove in, hit the Angel, and drove the Knife at its Koa.  The Angel let go of Unit 02 in a hurry.  Asuka took that chance to kick out it's legs, sending me toppling on top of it.  My hand was still on the knife, and it was lodged shallowly in the Angel's Koa.  I felt Asuka's hand on top of mine, even though the hand on top of mine weighed more than a frieght locomotive, the armor translated through only her touch.  It felt as if she'd normally laid her hand there.  Then the other hand came down, and drove the knife into the Koa.  We were jolted backwards in the ensuing explosion.  Everything was enveloped in white light, and I felt myself land hard, and something large hit me  I could make out the shillouette of Unit-02 on top of me.  Then the blast stopped.  Asuka was herself again.    

            "Get off me, you little pervert!"  She yelled, even though she clearly had landed on me.  I pushed her off, and stood up shakily.  The adrenaline had left my system, and my knees felt weak.  I felt chilled and light-headed.  Soon after, salvage crews arrived to bear the other Evas to the cages for repair.  

            "You performed well, Kai Li, Soryu.  My commendations to you both.  You saved this city a lot of destruction,"  Fuyutsuki said.   Gendo only nodded.  We were in debriefing.  I was worried, since Rei had been so badly pounded that she was in hospital as we spoke.  Shinji was also pretty bad off.  Touji was sitting in the debriefing room, an icepack on his head.  He looked bruised, but was alright, nothing broken, said Ritsuko, but she wasn't really a doctor, so we couldn't be sure.  We were all a bit shaken,  I certainly hadn't expected the Angels to be this tough.  It had been beatne, sure, but it had also taken out three Evas.  It had been to close for me.  It was impossible to tell what Asuka was feeling, she always gave me a look of seething anger, when she looked at me at all.  Fuyutsuki seemed happy, in a way, except that you really couldn't see it on his face.  You could tell though, that he was proud of the Evas, the work he'd done for years on end to make them ready.  Now they were.  

            We were dismissed to go home, and tommorow, being Sunday, was a weekend, and I wanted to sleep in.  Misato drove Yoko, Walker, and I home.  It was quite crowded in the car, as she was also driving Shinji and Asuka home with her.  Yoko and Asuka ended up scrunched together in the passenger seat, seeing as Asuka didn't want to sit with "pervert boys."  Misato sped dangerously along the highways, and, several red lights and mail box later, we were confronted with our apartment.  The three of us piled out, and walked wearily up to the door of our apartment, floor 11.  I collapsed on the sofa, Walker made it to his bedroom, and Yoko slumped in a chair in the kitchen.  I fell asleep.


	3. Lamentations 0:3

**Lamentations 0:3**

**Falling**

"No one is near to comfort me,

no one is near to restore my spirit."

- Lamentations 1:16

            When I woke up, I could smell something wonderful.

            "Piiiiiiizza!" I was able to groan as I sat up on the couch.  It was dark out, and my mind was blurry.  Yoko was sitting at the kitchen table.  I could here walker stumbling around in his room.  I realized that we hadn't turned any lights on when we came home, and now it was dark.  Yoko had the kitchen lights one.  Suddenly, walker burst from his room.

            "Well, I've lost the light switch," was all he said.  I figured as much.

            "Kojiro, we decided to order pizza.  NERV expense account.  We charged it to you, hope that's alright."  I nodded sleepily.  Walker rummaged around in the fridge for drinks.

            "B33R," he said.

            "Dude, you're underage," I said.

            "B33R," he replied.  I shook my head.  I didn't think the school authorities would like him bringing beer to school with his lunch.  He popped the can, and poured it into a glass.  

            "Well, at least we have pizza, no more beans and curry;" said Yoko.

            "We had curry?" I asked., wondering where it had gone.

            "Yeah, yesterday, but you were asleep and didn't look hungry, so we ate it," She said.

            "Well, thanks guys."  I frowned.  I fell asleep almost immediately after dinner had ended.  For some reason, I dreamed about my parents.  They had died when I was very young.  I couldn't remember them at all really.  I had a few photographs, and a letter or two, but nothing substantial.  My father had worked for a company called GEHIRN.  In my dream I could hear a voice that I knew was my father's.

            "Any news at all?"  my father asked.  I wondered what this was about.  I was in a small room, it was all white, one wall as translucent, and I could see the silhouette of two men.  I watched the two.  

            "Yes.  But she hasn't taken well to the therapy.  You must understand  that the condition is terminal,"  Another man's voice said.  My father made a sound I figured was a sigh, or a sob, I couldn't tell.

            "Is there nothing you can do?"  My father asked.  I think they were discussing my mother.  It sounded like she was sick.  

            "There are actions that could be taken.  I have explained them before, I'm sure you're familiar.  Granted, they are unorthodox, and she would truly never be the same.  She's be able to look after the boy."

            "No, she wouldn't want it that way.  She'd want a normal life."

            "She's the only one who can, Mr. Kai Li."

            "I regret that you can't do it.  My wife's honor is in my hands."

            "Ah, but you will let me do it." The second man pulled out a gun.  I tried the door in the room, it was locked.  The man pulled out a pen, and some papers.

            "Now, sign, you're no good to me dead, Kai Li," he said.  My father considered, and then signed the papers.  He gave the pen back.

            "Thank you, Mr. Kai Li."  He shot my father.  The translucent screen was splattered with blood, and I yelled.  I smashed into the door and it crashed open.  The room behind it had been replaced by a white light, and I fell through, covered in splinters of the door.  The white light cleared, and I saw Yoko's face.  I realized I'd woken.  

            "You sounded like you were having a nightmare," She said.  I realized her hand was holding mine.

            "Thanks…"  She hugged me.

            "Don't thank me, what are friends for?"  I put my arms around her and pulled her closer.

            "Thanks," I said again.  Yoko looked down at me again, as if she was trying to remember something.

            "You were talking about your father.  And your mother," she said.  I remembered, all to vividly, the dream.  I told her all most of what I could remember.  It was still a frightening thought, but I had no way of knowing if it was true.  Yoko was holding me now.  She released me, sat back on the couch.  

            "Doesn't this whole Angel thing scare you?  I mean, I was under layers of armor, and I didn't know what would happen.  You were out there in the Evangelion, and the others got so badly hurt.  Why do the Angels attack us?  Why now?"  She asked.

            "I don't know, I don't know if I'll ever know," I smiled though, "But I swear I will be out there and fighting until I die."

            "That's what I'm afraid of…" I saw a shining beneath her eye that might have been a tear.  

            "Hey, I'm not going down without a fight.  Trust me."  She seemed assured by this, though I certainly wasn't.

            "Well, You need to sleep now," I told her, and she looked at me accusingly.

            "Trying to get rid of me?"  she asked.

            "No, we both need sleep.  We have school tomorrow."  Touji had told us where it was, although his directions left something to be desired, seeing as he had been hit on the head kind of hard, and he had grabbed a few cans of beer from a vending machine as 'celebration.'  

            "Now, you leave… NEEEERV.  And ummmm.  That is a really big tree, you know that," he had said, at this point, I reminded him to stay on topic, and he continued, " and you have to go down the street to the restaurant with the cow on it, and then you take a left at the beer machine, go down that way for about fish minutes.  Then you should see the school, mmmkay?"  He had proceeded to fall over in his chair.

            "Right, Touji," I had said, and left.

            I awoke to the light blaring into my eyes.  I shook my head, and sat up.  Yoko and Walker were eating leftover pizza in the kitchen.  I walked off to the shower.   When I returned, there was a plate with two slices on it, which I readily ate.

            We arrived at school an hour later.  The bell rang as we steeped into the gate,a nd we had to run fast to get to the class, and only found it because Touji, who was also late, was runing just ahead of us.

            "New students…. Hmmm.  They are late, too.  Detention, and Mr. Suzahara as well,"  said the teacher as we entered.   Great, now I had the fates of hundreds of people resting on my shoulders, a big robot at my command, a militant business group after me, and a grumpy teacher with a bug up his ass.  He asked us to sit in the back, introduced us himself, as it seemed that he didn't trust us to do it.  I sat next to Touji, and he presented me with the grin of a man upon whom a heavy suitcase full of small unmarked bills had fallen.  We sat through a huge lecture about Tokyo-2, which was all right, seeing as it was the same lecture we usually had.  Touji was mouthing the words along with the teacher.

            "…Now I was quite a young man then.  The women loved me.  Now, I was involved in several sports, then, but of course that was before the second impact…" Geez, this guy was on the reminiscence trip from hell!  There was a girl a few rows ahead of me, who Touji referred to as "Class Rep." The class rep here was Horaki Hikari, the sign outside had said, so I guessed that was her.  She snuck a few looks back at Touji, and Asuka groaned loudly, but the teacher, of course, couldn't hear.  Touji was oblivious, although I wondered if this was true oblivion, or just acting.  We were given an hour for lunch.  Then it was back to class with Blather Sensei, and after that we served detention with Blather Sensei.  As much as I liked scrubbing floors, I had just had enough.  I couldn't have been happier when my sentence finished, and I was able to go back to our apartment.  

            It must have been several weeks until anything happened, several weeks filled with Blather Sensei and synch tests, neither of which was that exciting.  Shinji and Rei eventually returned to school, and life became pretty normal.  The apartment proceeded to get more and more cluttered with Yoko and I living there, Walker behind saying he wished we'd clean it up.  His room was clean and neat; the rest of the place looked like a bomb had gone off in it.  So it was that I woke up one morning, not really different than the rest, attended class with Blather Sensei, and ended up being sent out to lunch just like any other day.  Except this day, Ayanami was not at lunch.  She appeared several minutes later, doing something that she had never done in my presence, running.  She ran in a way that was almost too graceful, as if she wasn't really running, just moving for some reason unknown.  She stopped without skidding in front of Shinji and I.  

            "Ikari, we are to report to headquarters immediately.  Come on."  With that, she turned and ran off in her graceful way.  Shinji and I were right behind her.  Asuka and Touji, in the middle of a screaming-and-yelling-and-Touji-gets-kicked-in-the-head session saw us and followed, still grappling as they ran.  We crashed into NERV headquarters, sped to the changing rooms, Misato hollering at our heels as we ran.  Asuka shrieked something about perverts and the division screen, and we stumbled into our clothing.  Asuka hurried out first, pressurizing her suit as she ran.  Ayanami walked calmly out just as I exited, and we went off at similar speeds to our Evas.  

            "Goodbye," she said to me as I stopped running.  It seemed a strange thing to say before boarding a huge robot, but I didn't question her.  Asuka was already in when I got into the cockpit, complaining loudly about God knows what.  Shinji and Touji joined us seconds later, and Misato's face came up on the screen.  

            "Seeing as Asuka and Kojiro performed optimally last time, we're going to send them out against this Angel first.  The rest of you, stand by, you will function as back-up," she said.  Touji groaned, and Asuka gave a whoop of exhilaration.  There was a countdown on my screen, and at 0, Asuka and I launched, rocketing towards the bright Tokyo-3 sunlight.  I was engulfed by the sun and felt it penetrate me.  The angel was looming  in the distance, looking something like a giant cobra.  Asuka pulled a rifle from the rack near her.  She sighted, and fired.  The angel moved slightly right, and the arcing tracers passed by.  The angel rushed towards us.  I had brought out the sword that I had used in the last battle; it's Eva-length blade stretched at the ready.  The Angel stopped its charge within rifle range, and Asuka opened fire.  I stood ready.   The bullets bounced off the AT Field.  Figures.  I cursed.  Asuka said things that gave 'curse' a new meaning.    The Angel glided slowly closer.  Asuka yelled several expletives at it in German, only one of which I understood, and immediately wished I didn't, in light of the images it called to mind.  In response, the Angel shot two beams of light at Asuka.  The red Eva spouted red geysers of blood where they struck it.  Asuka's scream filled my ears as I sprung into action.  I brought the sword up in front of me and rushed the Angel.  I let the sword arc high, putting power into the swing, to wide of a swing for a real sword battle, but this wasn't kendo or even fencing.  I just needed damage.  The sword hit the AT Field, strained against it for a second, and ripped through the hard casing that protected the Angel.  Asuka fell, the white lights pulled from her chest.  She stood shakily as my stomach exploded in blinding pain.  I gritted my teeth, trying not to scream.  I felt my knees give out, white hot pain burning me inside and out for what seemed like hours before the blackness took me.  I woke aching.  I wasn't back in NERV.  I was still in the Eva.  Unit-01 was next to me, shaking my Unit-04's shoulders.  Shinji was calling my name, and I could hear his voice being echoed by Yoko's from the control room.  I shakily rolled into a crouch, and then to my feet.  The Angel was still alive, looking much the worse for wear.  Touji and Rei were beating it back repeatedly with their prog knives, while Asuka was resting, leaned against a building.  I jogged, if Evas jog, to the Angel, and threw myself with what remaining strength I could into the fray.  The sword had fallen to the ground nearby, and I drew it back up, now going in for surgical strikes, especially at the Koa.  Asuka seemed energized, and she and Shinji charged in, trying to shoot the Angel from behind with small arms as a distraction.  Touji and Rei's progressive knife attacks were failing, due to the low power the small weapons wielded.  My sword had made several chinks in the armor, and I was still striking, but getting tired.  My arms ached, the weight of the huge sword beating the muscles to submission, my slashes slower now.  Shinji and Asuka's chancy potshots were starting to work, however, the Angel was thrashing confusedly and hadn't used its light arms.  As if in answer to my thoughts, Ayanami spoke.

            "We disabled it's weapons, it has solely its casing to defend it," she said.  Even then, I realized we'd won.  I drove in for one more distraction, smashing the butt of the sword upon the Angel's head.  It thrashed more wildly, turning towards me as it did so.  Shinji dove in, placed his pistol against the Koa, and fired.  The angel fell with a reverberating thud to the ground.  The dust was still settling as I limped to the nearest elevator, and was whisked down below the surface.

            I collapsed on the couch in the apartment.  It was dark in here, and I didn't bother to turn on the lights.  My eyes fell closed, and I was asleep in seconds.  Yoko stood in front of me.  Around was a sea of fluorescent colors.  She was wearing  Ayanami's plugsuit.  She reached out to me, and I took her hand.  When I looked up from her hand, she wasn't Yoko any longer.  She had turned into Asuka.  Asuka pulled herself towards me, until her face was almost touching mine.  She leaned forward to kiss me, and I closed my eyes. I felt her kiss me, I opened my eyes to find red ones staring back at me.  Ayanami had no expression on her face as she pulled away from me.  Her hand traced down my chest, but quickly snapped to my throat.  I felt the fingers close around my throat, and Ayanami had turned into tall, lanky, grey-haired boy.  His eyes were red too.  I pulled at his fingers.  He smiled slightly, and I realized I could not get the iron fingers off my neck.  He swung a foot up with perfect flexibility and grace and kicked me in the head.  I blacked out.    My vision cleared, and I was on my hands and knees in a dark room.  I looked up from the floor and found myself facing a wall spattered with blood.  It was as if someone had been dragged across it after being ripped to shreds.  A crumpled lump of bloodied mangled cloth lay in a heap in the corner.  I approached it, looking for a clue, any clue.  A hand protruded from the cloth, soaked with blood.  I rolled the body over.  Walker's face looked back at me from the heap.  His eyes were open, and his face was twisted grotesquely.  I stepped back and gasped, stumbled to the door and out into the hall.  I tripped over another heap.  Shinji was in a similar condition to Walker.  His clothing was mangled and torn, bloodied and ripped.  I stumbled down the passage, which seemed like it was one of those in the geofront. Misato was slumped against a wall at a T-Junction in the path, blood spreading from a bullet hole in her stomach.  Her eyes were closed.  I turned right and continued, hoping for a way out, knowing there was none.  Further down the passage, Touji and Asuka were lying together; holding each other in a final embrace, fear on Asuka's face, and resignation on Touji's.  I stumbled over more bodies, some I recognized, some I didn't, some destroyed beyond recognition, until I came to the Eva cages.  The door opened, and four green eyes glared from the darkness.  Two red ones joined them instantly.  The grey-haired boy was there, glowing blue now.  He held Yoko by the neck in front of him.  She struggled, kicking him repeatedly in the side, pummeling him.  He didn't release her.  She said my name, pleading.  I threw myself at him, heard the crunch of her neck, and saw her fall.  Unit-02, which had been looming silently behind him swung its hand at me.  I realized I'd lost.  The hand stopped, plucked from midair by Unit-04's silver and black hand.  The two units deactivated, and I was back in the fluorescent light, facing the boy, Yoko lying at his feet.  He turned to me and opened his mouth to speak.  

            I was jolted awake by a hand on my face.  I looked up, and saw Yoko's face.  She looked concerned.  Before I knew what I had done, my arms were around her, and I was crying, crying into her shoulder.  She gasped as I had grabbed her, but didn't pull away.  The tears stopped when I realized it had been nothing but a freaky psycho dream normal to an Eva pilot.  She now had her arms around me, and I could feel her warmth pressed against me.  We rolled, facing each other, so we were on our sides on the couch.  She blinked, and I felt her arms tighten around me.  I could feel her breathing.  It felt strangely safe when I felt her body against mine.  Something overly calming fell over me, and I fell asleep, Yoko breathing evenly, holding me.  

            She was still there when I awoke at 3 AM, granted, the last night's details were fuzzy to me at that point, having woken recently, and I wondered what had happened that would have caused her to be there, until the memories of the dream and Yoko standing over me returned.  She stirred in my arms.  Her eyes opened, and focused on mine, and she jumped back in surprise.  Several awkward seconds later, she realized what had happened during the night, and relaxed.  She closed her eyes and fell back asleep.  I slipped back to sleep in her arms, her in mine.  


	4. Lamentations 0:4

Lamentations 0:4 

**Ascendant Kou**

"He has filled me with bitter herbs 

and sated me with gall."

- Lamentations 3:15

            She snuck back to her room later in the morning.  I sat awake on the couch, blanket around my shoulders, wondering if we would be attacked again today.  Eventually, I got up, in the cold gray Tokyo fall morning.  I made a meager breakfast of pancakes and "juice."  The others came out ten minutes later, groggy.  Yoko propped herself up in a chair, rationing herself a small amount of "breakfast."  Walker looked at the plate in disgust, looked away, nauseated.  Yoko and I choked our breakfast down, whilst poor Walker choked his back up noisily in the bathroom.  

            "Dude, I don't feel so 133T today," he said, looking sickened.

            "You should stay home, then, I'll tell Misato you aren't feeling well," Yoko replied.  She made him sit on the sofa and looked at him concernedly.  

            "I hope you feel better soon, Oden-kun," She told him.  He looked up, groggy.

            "Yes ma'am!"  He announced with pomp, and promptly fell asleep on the couch.

            "Is it just me, or did your question and his answer not fit together very well?"  I asked as we left.  She smiled and laughed.  As we walked to NERV, I felt her ease closer to me, and her hand clasped mine.  I turned to look at her, and saw my eyes reflected in hers.  A simple moment of affection an understanding passed between us, and she tightened her loose hold on my hand.  We arrived at NERV ten minutes early, and headed down to the vending machine room to grab some snacks before work.  I wasn't looking much forward to my hours in the EVA unit that I was bound to spend during that day.  I slid my key in the main door lock of that basement block, and the door opened.  We proceeded down a generic NERV corridor until we got to the room.  Room 3:204 C - Vending Machines.  I keyed the door, and was confronted by an odd sight.  Yoko's eyes widened with a mixture of surprise and bewilderment.  Asuka and Shinji, the two rivals, were locked together.  Not in combat, however.  Asuka's arms were around Shinji's neck.  His were sticking straight out and down, and they were kissing passionately.  Tinges of red touched Shinji's cheeks.  Asuka was obviously severely dominant in this exchange, but Shinji showed no sign of reluctance, only unfamiliarity, perhaps surprise, or maybe his brain had ceased to function.  Asuka pulled away after several seconds, her eyes locked on Shinji's face.  She sighed quietly, and suddenly noticed us standing in the doorway.  The contented look was wiped off her face, and she pulled her arms curtly from Shinji's neck, with such vigor that he was knocked off balance, stumbled forward and ran into a vending machine.  He collapsed to the floor, unconscious.  Asuka turned him over as Yoko and I propped him up against a machine that dispensed plastic baggies full of questionable items.  Asuka slapped him hard on the cheek, and his eyes flashed open.  He looked at her in bewilderment.  She looked at him angrily.

            "Perverser idiotin!  You kissed me!  Baka hentai!"  Shinji was out cold again by way of Asuka's vicious left hook.  Yoko and I revived Shinji after a short time in which we slapped him lightly on the cheek.  Asuka was fuming in a corner, muttering about perverts.  Shinji was on his feet by the time Yoko had talked Asuka into not hurting him after we left.  Yoko and I bought two drinks and a bag of chips and edged slowly backwards towards the door.

            "Freaky…"  I said as we slowed to a stop outside 3:156 D - Vending Machines 2.  The door opened to Yoko's key.  Paper was scattered on the table in the middle of the room.  The room was maybe twenty feet by ten, painted NERV gray, and was lined with vending machines that sold just about everything.  There were random potted plants between the machines, and a trash can next to a closed door on the opposite side of the room.  It was dimly lit by a faulty neon bulb, but I could make out pictures in the pile on the table.  They were scattered in a random pile, suggesting a struggle.  As I neared the table, my foot hit something hard.  I looked down to find a handgun.  It was Misato's, by the look.  I picked it up, now, more even than before, believing that Misato had possibly been killed in a struggle with an enemy agent.  Yoko plucked the gun from my hand.  She held it ready, covering the doors as I checked the papers.

            "Transfer of Evangelion Unit-05 - Adaptable Prototype.  There's a picture, ummm…  New pilot: Kou Leifou.  He's of Japanese descent, born in America.  His psychological profile says he's very interested in personal gain, probably a risky addition to the Eva team, but he also seems to be the only one who _can pilot unit 05.  Hmmmm.  His current synch ratio is at 72%.  Real high.  We had another sync test the other day.  My ratio's only at 69%." The picture of Kou showed a Japanese boy with shoulder-length black hair and eyes of an almost unnatural green.  He __looked cocky.  Geez.  Unit-05 was very interesting.  It was very similar in form to Units 04 and 03, but was green.  Huge metal wings were folded behind it.  Retractable claws or a ten shot cannon could be attached at the wrist. A jetpack could replace the wings, there were blade attachments for the feet.  It looked like a very powerful unit, but very expensive.  It looked like Gendo had shelled out a not-so-incredibly-small fortune for it.  Yoko eyed the transfer orders.  There was a thumping sound from the door that had been closed when we came in.  We closed the gap between us and the door, and Yoko stood back and covered me from the side as I opened it.  It opened outwards, and I was hit heavily by two people.  Misato landed on top of me, and Kaji on top of her.  I was bowled over and fell heavily on my back.  Misato pushed Kaji off her and stood up.  She frowned down at him, before looking at us.  _

            "What are you kids doing here?"

            "Getting snacks…" Yoko said.

            "Oh… Well, this is the snack room isn't it?"

            "Yes.  What are _you… adults… doing here?"  
            "We were just enjoying each other," Kaji said, dusting himself off with a roguish smile on his face.  Misato pushed him back down onto the ground and glared at him.  He just smiled._

            "Actually," she said, "Kaji attacked me."  She kicked him, still glaring, and he fell back to the ground.  She gathered her papers, pulled the gun from Yoko's hand, and exited the room, leaving Kaji on the ground. 

            "We have a briefing in 17D:112 F in twenty minutes, so you kids should be there.  And Kaji, Gendo said I should have you report to him if I found you.  It seems you turned off your cell phone," she called down the hall.  Kaji sat up.  I extended a hand to him, which he took, pulling himself up.  He steadied himself against the table, roguish smile returned.

            "Well, you kids better get to that meeting, and play nice, ha ha.  You'll be meeting a new friend.  Quite a character, I picked him up this morning," Kaji said, buying a soda from a vending machine.  He popped the top and waved us off to the meeting.  

            Asuka got on the elevator we had been riding in on the 15th floor.  She didn't know about Kou, I guessed, and I wasn't about to tell her.  Shinji was nowhere to be seen.  We found him already in the conference room, sitting on his own.  A slide of Unit-05 was up on the wall.  It was the same picture I'd seen, just much larger, showing many more modifications it could have.  Kou's picture was up next to it.  Fuyutsuki gave us a speech about the new unit, and I found out that it was being transferred from America because the American branch feared it wasn't defended well enough, seeing as the Angels had already beaten down our conventional defense, and they figured it was safer with other Evas around.  Misato stood next, saying, "The Unit hasn't arrived yet, but it should some time within the hour.  Also, Kou has just arrived this morning, so he's probably jetlagged.  He's Japanese, but he's been raised in the states, so he probably isn't used to some parts of the culture."  "Also, he's devilishly handsome, so you ladies had better keep your wits about you!" she said with a laugh and a grin. "However, his synch ratio is at 72%, which puts you all to shame," at this Asuka's eyes narrowed, and she glared, "and he will be a very valuable member of the team, so I expect you all to treat him well.  Try to make his acclimatization as painless as possible.  I'm trusting you all, so please do it."  The room's door buzzer sounded.

            "That'll be the sixth child," Misato said, and keyed the door.  It slid open, revealing the boy I'd seen in the picture.  Kou was taller by two inches than Touji, who was leaning against the wall near the door.  He was built similarly, obviously not a couch potato.

            "Hello, children!"  He exclaimed as he stepped in.  He was dressed in a black leather jacket and long black baggy pants.  He walked to the front, said "I'm Kou, I'm sure Misato has introduced me."

            "Yes, actually, I have," Misato put in.

            "Well, then you know who I am.  Obviously, Commander Ikari noticed that you all have had some trouble keeping the Earth safe, so he wisely employed me."

            "The sixth child seems quite full of himself," Asuka said, loud enough for the rest of us to hear.  

            "Doubtful, are you?  Commander Ikari wants me around, God knows he's paying me enough," He looked at Misato, "Exactly HOW much is the Commander paying me?  1.5 million, isn't it?

            "You'll get it later, Kou," Misato said with a forced smile, through clenched teeth.  

            After the meeting ended, Misato herded us to a medium sized common room.

            "You kids play nice and get to know each other, I'm going to pick up a few pizzas for lunch, okay?"  She flashed a smile and exited, leaving us all standing amidst an awkward silence.  Eventually we ended up sitting down on the room's couches, centered around a coffee table.  Shinji went to get some sodas, and Kou dropped down next to Yoko.  He was irritatingly close to her.  I could feel some intrinsic part of my soul burn with anger at his advance.  She either didn't object, or was totally oblivious, carrying on a conversation with Asuka about Unit-02's comm. system.  He nudged Yoko as Asuka went off into a heated monologue about NERV's repair efficiency.   

            Kou finally broke in with a comment to Yoko; "Misato didn't tell me anything about _you."  he said, his every word dripping with flattery, "What do __you do around here?"_

            "Well, I'm a tech.  I'm supposed to fix any of the problems in Units 03 - 05.  I'm being specially trained in their designs as opposed to just general Eva repair.  So, if you screw up your Eva, I'm the one who has to climb inside and fix it."

            Well, I don't plan to get Unit - 05 damaged at all, if I can help it.  We've gone through a lot of drills together without getting so much as a scratch."  Shinji pushed open the door with his face, arms laden with drinks.  He dumped them on the table and collapsed from exhaustion.  Kou nudged Shinji's lifeless form from the table with his foot and popped a soda.  He turned to Touji, whom he had been eyeing interestedly for several minutes.

            "Love your ensemble, Suzahara," he said.

            "Huh?"

            "You've really got something going there.  Tell me, do you always wear your pajamas to work?"  Touji jumped up and launched himself at the newcomer, tackling him off the sofa, causing his soda to spill into Yoko's lap.  She jumped, avoiding most of the spill.  Meanwhile, Touji had Kou pinned against the wall, held up by his collar, and Asuka was halfheartedly trying to separate them.  

            "Who do you think you are?  Huh, punk bastard?  Show a little respect next time!"  Touji said furiously, shrugging off one of Asuka's hands.  Kou just smiled, grabbed Touji's hand, and twisted it quickly around.  Touji made a surprised exclamation, and his hand made a popping sounds as he was pinned to the ground.  He kicked out with his back leg, but didn't hit Kou.  Kou flipped Touji back over onto his back and raised a fist, threatening him.

            "Okay, Suzahara, you ever touch me again, and I'll put you in a much more uncomfortable position, got it, kid?  Mind your manners!"  He swung his fist but I intervened, grabbing it out of the air and shoving him off Touji.

            "You're getting out of line, Kou, save it for the schoolyard."  I didn't care _how good of a pilot he was, so long as he would at least keep his damned ego at bay.  He stood up, looking miffed.  Misato chose this moment to open the door behind me and enter, running a box of pizza into the back of my head._

            "Fuck!  Ouch!"  I yelled. 

            "Oh, sorry.  How are you kids doing?"

            "Well, we're actually…" Asuka started.

            "Fine, just fine, Misato," Kou said, cutting her off.  He threw the other children a smile, Asuka threw him a glare, which Misato ignored, seeing as Asuka did that to everyone.  We sat down to pizza, and as I was about to bite out of my first slice, an alarm bell rang.  Touji jumped in surprised, knocking his chair over.  He rolled out of it and to his feet, taking off at a dead run to the Eva bays.  The rest of us ran off, leaving the Eva-less Kou with Yoko in the conference room.  I stumbled into my plugsuit in the changing rooms, pressurizing just as I reached the cages.  Three minutes later I was inside Unit 04.  Misato came on the comm.

            "Stay awake, pilots.  This Angel seems to have traced Kou's Unit 05 here.  We don't know anything about it, save for the fact that it is moving into position about NERV HQ, and may employ a method of getting to us by going through the armor layers protecting the base that run through the ground.  Destroy it before it can do too much damage!  That's all, I'll keep you updated.  Good luck pilots!  Evangelion launch!"

            The elevator shot me rocketing up the gray metal tunnel into the sunlight.  The Angel hovered, huge, in my viewport.   Asuka gasped, and Shinji whimpered loudly.  I grabbed a rifle from a NERV supply building built next to the  elevator pad.  Asuka had already opened fire.  Seconds later she screamed, rolling to her left as an almost tangible beam of energy liquefied the buildings next to her.  

            "Careful, Asuka!" Misato yelled, "Watch out for that particle beam!"

            "No kidding!"  Asuka looked more angry than I'd seen her yet, and that was saying something.  Her face was almost as red as her Eva.  

            "Guys, I have a new signature on my radar.  It's not an enemy, but you should probably see this!"  Shinji yelled.

            "See what?"  asked Touji.

            "This!" Kou's voice joined the chorus, "Never fear!  Kou is here!  Ha ha!"  I tracked him on my sensors.  He was, as they read, directly above me.  The wings!  I looked up.  He was rocketing skyward on the momentum of his elevator, which must have had a special boost.  The wings opened in the blink of an eye, shooting out to his sides and slowing his ascent.  He targeted the Angel from above and opened fire with two automatic rifles.  

            "Okay, I've got sixty-two seconds left to kill this mother!  Don't get in my way!  Distract it or something!"  Kou rolled hard left, sending in a stream of bullets.  Asuka was fuming.  The particle beam charged, fired, Kou rolled out of the way.  He dodged two more shots, swooping in low to fire a few rockets, dropping the spent rifles.  The Angel charged up again, fired.  Kou was hit by the blast, unable to evade at such a low height.  He was rocketed backwards, up into the air.  His left wing liquefied, and he dropped into a building, rolling to a stop, armor mutilated.  Rei dragged him quickly to a elevator, and Misato ordered us to return to the Cages and get out of the Angel's range.  By the time we were back out of our Evas on the Cage's metal catwalks, Kou was standing to the side, his green plugsuit dripping LCL.  Yoko stood next to him, dressing a small gash on his forehead.  She looked at me embarrassedly, but I couldn't figure out why.  Perhaps she was just embarrassed to be helping Kou in any way.  However, he _was a pilot, and we __were on the same side in this war.  Misato appeared, looking disturbed._

            "Kids, it's AT Field is too strong for us to penetrate with our hand weapons, or even the particle cannons," I didn't know what our particle cannons were, but figured if they couldn't hurt it, we were in trouble, "I have a plan, however, since we've found that it only fires at targets within a certain radius, I think we might be able to hit it with a shot from farther away.  The Angel has started drilling towards us, so we have a time constraint on this mission.  Get some sleep, and be back here at 0500 hours sharp!  We'll have you briefed, and send you out.  Good luck!"  With that, she walked off, before, even, I could protest, and ask for a ride home.

            "Looks like we're walking, Yoko," I said.  However, as we got out of the main exit, Kaji pulled up to the curb.

            "Looks like you kids could use a ride back to your apartment.  Hop in!"  He smiled his patented Kaji smile, and we got into his convertible.  We told him about Kou.  He laughed quietly when he heard about the boy's temper and ego.

            "I said he was quite a character!  But, no time left to talk, this is your stop!" He said, pulling into our building's lot.  We thanked him, and he sped off.

            "How was your day, dude?" Walker asked as we entered the house.  He was sitting on the couch, watching TV.  NERV was denying reports of an Angel, although it was obviously visible in the background of the TV report.  Morons…  

            "It was questionable.  New Pilot, big Eva, Big-Ass Sugar Cube Angel, asses got kicked, etc.  The usual," I told him.  He threw  me a questioning look, and I gave him a play by play of the entire day, excepting the incidents with Shinji/Asuka and Kaji/Misato, which I figured he didn't need to know about.  He said, and I quote, "duuuuude."

            "Well, the one good thing is that we don't have to endure that pompous ass, Kou, here at home.  At least we have a safe house from his personality," I said.  Yoko glanced at me sheepishly, flinching slightly as I expounded Kou's "virtues."

            "What?" I asked her.  She didn't get to even start a sentence, cut off by a knocking at my door.

            "I wonder who that is?" Walker asked.  Yoko opened the door to a smiling Kou.

            "Irony, sweet irony.  Somebody shoot me now," I muttered under my breath, "Walker, Kou.  Kou, Walker.  Now that the introductions are finished, please leave."

            "Pleasure, I'm sure," said Kou, stepping inside.  Yoko closed the door.

            "I'm just moving in across the hall, so I wanted to see if you kids could lend me a hand or two in getting my stuff up the stairs."  Walker and I exchanged sarcastic looks.

            "Misato told me it was quite cramped in here, and my apartment is fairly large, so I thought that perhaps one of you," he shot a sly look at Yoko, "could move in with me."  Yoko said nothing at this, but simply stood there, looking uncomfortable.  She fidgeted for a second, and shot off to the kitchen, mumbling about getting drinks for everyone.  She finally returned with a few sodas.  While she was gone, we other three had sat in the living room in relative silence, the only sound the rustling of Kou's shirt as he glanced around in distaste.  I popped my soda open, sipped, and placed it on the table.  Kou looked around a bit more, extending the silence.  I just looked at him, trying to glare without glaring, make my disapproval for him obvious, without making it obvious.  

            "Well, as interesting as this is, I need to get back to unpacking, so if any of you would like to give me a hand, then you might as well come now."  Kou stood up and was leaving.  Walker and  I shook our heads behind his back.  Yoko started after him, faltered, looked back at me, I shrugged, and she continued along.  She was gone for three hours.


	5. Lamentations 0:5

Lamentations 0:5 

**Anger… Angel**

"Bitterly she weeps at night,

tears are upon her cheeks.

Among all her lovers

there is none to comfort her."

- Lamentations 1:2

            Yoko returned at what must have been 9 o'clock. She looked slightly dismayed.  I wondered what was wrong, but figured it must have just been due to Kou's "unique" personality.  Walker and I had already eaten dinner.  I showered and kicked back on the couch, trying not to think about the huge Angel hovering over the city just a few miles away.  Walker was asleep, still recovering, and Yoko had gone to eat something in the kitchen.  She said goodnight quietly, turned off the lights, went into her room and locked the door.  I could hear her sobbing softly, but couldn't make myself move, knock upon the locked door.  I fell asleep looking out the window at the Tokyo-3 night sky filled with untargeted anger and guilt.

            I awoke in the darkness to a hand on my shoulder, gently shaking me.  Yoko was saying my name quietly.

            "Kojiro…  Kojiro…"

            "Yeah, yeah, I'm awake."  I rubbed my eyes and sat up.  Yoko sat down next me.  She was pressed close enough to me for me to hear her heartbeat, fast, nervous.  Her voice was faltering as she spoke. 

            "So, what can I do for you?"  I yawned.   

            "It's Kou…   He makes me feel so… insecure.  I don't know what to do when he…  approaches me…  I mean, when he tries to…"  I put my hand on her shoulder.

            "What?  What's he doing that makes you feel so… uncomfortable, huh?"  I asked.  Suddenly, things were being made clear.  Kou, the bastard, he must have been putting the moves on her.  And, knowing Yoko, who seemed to have a problem communicating with guys, that could be disastrous.

            "He tried to… he tried to…"

            "What?  What did he do?  Speak, damnit!"  I said vehemently, only seconds later realizing it probably wasn't the greatest tone to have taken.  Yoko straightened as if to stand.

            "Yoko…  Listen, I'm sorry I was harsh…  Please, please, sit back down."  Hesitantly, she returned to her seat.

            "Kojiro…  I don't why I'm telling _you, of all the people I know, this, but Kou keeps… he keeps… keeps trying to do things with me.  Things I'm not sure I would do to someone who I wasn't __involved with.  I mean, he's just very eager.  Makes me feel he just wants some type of entertainment.  I feel like a plaything."  She looked angry.  Yoko's features, barely visible, were set in a frown.  She was sitting rigidly, back straight.  I reached to put my arm around her, and she relaxed, leaning into my arms.  I held her against me.  I could feel the warmth of her body against mine.  I felt comforted, like I had somewhere to turn now, somewhere safe and warm.  Somewhere to turn from the Angels, the world, from Kou.  I felt her arms around me too, now.  She looked up at me.  I saw her eyes had watered, but she wasn't crying._

            "Yoko, did he kiss you?"

            "No…  He tried.  I wouldn't let him.  So he touched me.  Just touched me…  It just feels so wrong…"

            "How far did he go?"  I was fighting to keep my temper from taking control.  Kou was overstepping his bounds.  I was not liking the sound of this…

            "He…He tried to undress me.   I stopped him the first two times....  I told him I wasn't interested.  He just didn't seem interested in listening.  He tried again.  I couldn't stop him forever…" She closed her eyes tight and put her head back down on my shoulder.

            "It's alright.   It's alright.  Come on… Yoko, how far did he go, you have to tell me…  Come on.  Did he do what I think he did?"

            "No… Not that far.  He tried.  I slapped him.  He just looked at me weird, asked what I thought was wrong with him, and made me leave."  She started sobbing quietly, her tears soaking into the shoulder of my pajama shirt.  I ran my hands down her back, feeling her nightgown's soft fabric mimicking the lines of her skin.  Her sobbing stopped after a few minutes, and she sighed.  I felt her arms around me tighten a bit, and realized I'd never felt that close to anyone before.  I ran a hand up her back, through the hanging mass of her long black hair, and to the back of her head.  Yoko adjusted her seating, brought her face up next to mine, and enfolded me tightly.  I could feel her warm cheek against mine.  I could smell her hair.  It smelled like night air and flowers.  Probably some wacky shampoo.  Yoko's hands traced up my back, finally encircling my neck.  I knew what was coming.  I felt her cheek leave mine, her eyes looking into mine.  We neared until I felt her lips touch mine.  It was like a bolt of lightning hitting my mind.  I felt like I was in the middle of a whirlwind, held safely in her arms.  She leaned back onto the couch on her back.  I pulled out of the kiss and stared down at the girl in my arms.  She was blushing bright red.  The moon cast a blue glow down through the window onto us from high above.  I pulled my comforter up over us, and we held each other, slowly drifting off to sleep.  I only remembered falling asleep with her in my arms. It was only for the second time in my life, but I prayed it would not be the last. Granted, if I failed against the angel, it would.   

            I woke to find Yoko still in my arms.  She was smiling in her sleep.  She opened her eyes, smile preserved upon her face.  It was three o'clock in the morning.  I drank a cup of god knows what kind of coffee, changed into my NERV Uniform, and headed to work.  It was four thirty when I got there.  Misato quickly hurried us into the briefing room.  As I entered, I noticed Kou sitting there, eager and confident about the upcoming battle.  He appeared not to even have a thought in his arrogant little mind about the previous night.   I stared at him with contempt and took a seat.  Misato quickly began the briefing.  "Due to it's AT Field, the angel has an almost perfect defense system," she said.  "In addition, anything that enters its range of attack will be obliterated.  Therefore, we need to strike it from outside that range.  To that end, we have assembled the new prototype long-range particle rifle.  The plan is, one of you will fire the rifle, and one of you will protect the shooter.  Protection was facilitated through the use of a shield we have constructed by ripping the bottom off an American Space Shuttle, and strapping on some handles."  At this, a look of self-satisfaction came over Asuka's face.  "Kou, because of your high sync ratio, you will be the shooter," Misato said.  Asuka's smug look quickly turned into one of angry frustration.  Misato added, "Kojiro, you will defend Kou."  I was outraged.  Of all the low down, dirty, tricks life could have played this was obviously the worst.  I had to protect the one person who I wanted out of my life completely.  Well, life goes on.  
  


            "Eva Lauch!"  Misato's voice filled my cockpit, and Kou and I were shot like twin bullets into the dim, fall morning of Tokyo-3.  The sniper rifle lay silhouetted against the rising sun, lying on a hill, far flung from the city center, where the Angel was hovering, Drill extended to the ground.  A cord ran into it, to which were connected a steady line of transformers and wires.  All the power in Japan was routed through those cords.  Kou knelt down, already preparing for his shot at the Angel.  I moved into position with my shield, a hefty, awkward, triangular piece of thermal coated shielding.  I fell into position next to Kou.  He was almost done calculating the shot angle.  Ritsuko had said it was based on a lot of weird calculations, so I figured it would take a while.  It did. A full ten seconds later, ages in mission time, Kou was on target.  He sighted, fired.  A beam of white light shot out of the particle cannon.  Kou whooped as it shot to the Angel, the whoop dying on his lips as the beam hit the AT Field.  It fractured and was sent off in tangents.  Kou swore violently.  

            "Sorry, Kou, it seems there was a calculation mistake, I'll feed the new math through to you," Ritsuko said, face full of shame.

            "Well, do it quick!  And get into position Kojirou!  The Angel's preparing to fire!"  I saw the white hot streak as it blasted across the city towards us.  I was in its path, shield raised, protecting Kou to protect humanity, to protect Yoko.  Her fate was in his hands now.  Irony lay thick like fog in my mind as I took a huge blast against the shield. Weathering it, but shocked when no relent showed.  The Angel was trying out wear out the shield.

            "Hurry up, Kou!" I yelled.

            "I'm going, I'm going!"  He yelled back.  The shield was melting into my Eva's hands, and my palms burned like nothing else.  Kou reloaded the rifle and set his sights.  Seconds later he fired.  The shield gave out as he did, and I threw my body into the blast.  I felt the Angel's fire envelop me, but I knew that Kou might need one more shot, and I'd be damned if I was going to let the future of humankind get scrapped like a faulty shield.  Kou whooped, and I knew it was through.  The pain stopped suddenly, and I fell to my knees.  I felt something tearing in my left side.  I grimaced.

            "Well, did we win?  Kou? Kou, help me up here?"  It hurt to ask for his help, but I didn't have a death wish, either.  No help came.  I strained my aching muscles to look up.  I was only able to catch a glimpse of him going down the elevator shaft before I blacked out.


	6. Lamentations 0:6

Lamentations 0:6 

**In the Kingdom of Tokyo-03**

"It is good to wait quietly 

for the salvation of the Lord."

- Lamentations 3:26

            The ceiling was white.  So was everything else for that matter. It felt foreign.  It wasn't Eva.  I was covered in a white sheet.  Not much else.  Yoko was asleep on the floor next to my bed, covered lightly in a sheet as well.  She didn't even stir as the doorknob turned.  I dropped to the bed, some animal instinct telling me to feign sleep.  Footsteps approached my bed.  They were heavy, but not as heavy as an adult's.  I figured it must have been Touji.  Kou spoke.

            "Well, looks like you screwed yourself up, moron.  I certainly wouldn't have taken that blast for a weakling like you," he poked me, "Heh.  You don't even know what I'm saying, do ya?  You fucking corpse.  Wanna know what I think?  I think Yoko looks damn good right now.  Pity she's so devoted to you, eh?  God knows, I'd've fucked her brains out if I were you.  I could have _had her.  And damn, that would've been fun.  But, you'd know about that, wouldn't you?  Eh?  Fool.  Look at her.  She's really quite gorgeous, you know?  But you know all about that, don't you?  She's sleeping, just all peaceful.  It's great how the top two buttons on her shirt are unbuttoned.  Wonderful view.  Look at how they're rising and falling as she's breathing.  Red bra, wonder if the panties match.  Ha.  She's all curled up, like a little girl. Her legs are great, too.  Her stockings, all new and tight, show them so damn well. She's really quite amazing.  Well, I don't even know why I came here.  Hell, I got a good show.  I'm leaving for dinner, maybe she'd like to come?  Hell, let her sleep.  I'm outta here."  He left, letting the door fall shut quietly behind him.  I raised my head and opened my eyes.  I leaned to see more of Yoko, make sure he hadn't done anything silently.  I pain jolted my left side.  I ran my hand down and found a bandage.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it had been.  I leaned over the side of the bed, despite the protest of my injured side.  I pulled Yoko's covers up over her chest, covering the undone buttons.  I pulled my body back into bed and lay back, refusing myself sleep, committing myself to watch over Yoko.  I lay awake, devoting my entire mind to staying awake to protect her from him, should he return.  Eventually, maybe ten minutes, maybe an hour, later, Yoko stirred, waking from her rest.  She stood up, stretched, and looked down at me._

            "Good afternoon.  At least, I think it's afternoon," I said to her.  She smiled and laughed, checked her watch.

            "It's 3:27, so yes, it is."  

            "Ah.  Good.  Glad I woke up, time to get dressed before dinner.  Speaking of dinner, that's where Kou went.  Just after he paid us a visit."

            "Did he?"  

            "Yes, I'd say he very much did.  Had a lot to say, for some whose audience was nothing but a "corpse" and a sleeping girl."  
            "You know, It's hard to sleep through monologue as frightening as that was," Yoko said.

            "I didn't know you were awake."

            "I didn't know you were, either."

            "He kind of scared me."  

            "Scared you?  Scared me's more like it.  At least he wasn't talking about _your body."_

            "Actually, I believe he was, just he was speaking in a strictly "lifeless" sense." 

            "Still, you heard what he said!"

            "Well, he had _one point."_

            "Huh?!  Whaddayou mean?!"  She looked flustered.

            "He said you were gorgeous.  I'm certainly not arguing with _that.  You __are really good-looking."  She blushed crimson, and turned away, a smile forcing its way onto her face.  I fell back to the bed and she stayed turned.  I didn't know what to make of her reaction.  I mean, she __had kissed me, right?  Yoko finally turned, smiling, still, just slightly._

            "Misato said she'd come by later.  Said something about our new assignment..."  She tariled off as, as if by magic, Misato opened the door.  

            "Well, good afternoon, Kojiro!  It seems that you're awake.  You've been asleep for a while, in fact, three days, making today Thursday.  Now, on Saturday, we're headed to the beach."  I was surprised.  I apparently showed this, because Misato said, "That's right, we're going in to test the underwater functions of units 03-05.  And, seeing as you kids are stressed, I decided you could use a vacation.  Besides, winter isn't upon us, as of yet, so we'll get to have a nice time.  I booked us some rooms at the hotel, which has an indoor pool, steam rooms, beach access, and is close to the NERV base in the area.  We go this Saturday, remember, so do well in school, eh?  I'm going to go see how the cafeteria is here.  You kids need anything?"  I shook my head, "No?  Okay!  Well, see you kids later!"  Misato dissapeared out the door, undoubtedly in search of Kaji, or beer, or both.  Yoko handed me a change of clothes that she had brought, folded, from my suitcase at home.  

            "Beach, huh?"  I asked.  She nodded.

            "Yeah.  I'll pack a suitcase for the both of us, we won't need much stuff.  And besides, we still have a day of school left before we go."  She turned away as I changed out of the hospital gown and into my normal clothing.  We checked out of NERV's hospital.  They handed me a clipboard to sign, and scanned my card.  More ways for Gendo to know about everything that went on here.  Yoko and I took a lift to the surface and walked downtown, looking for a restaraunt.  We eventually ended up in a sleazy looking area of town, filled with neon signs, glowing, proclaiming, advertising "massage parlors" and nightclubs.  Also, we had somehow lost ourselves totally.  Yoko was looking edgy, jumping slightly at any sound.  I tried to stay calm and collected, but the area was increasingly sleazier as we progressed.  I didn't know that Gendo's megalopolis had areas as sleazy as this one.  I was hoping that I would see some familiar landmark, a sign, a building. None came.  As the slums grew increasingly dingy, I began to worry about our safety, even with my martial arts.  Yoko was almost crying, I could tell.  Her eyes were watering, and she was glancing over her shoulder every few meters.  As we walked along, I eventually heard footsteps fall to behind us, matched well with our own so only a trained ear could hear.  Yoko was oblivious, but I listened hard.  There were only three of them, but they knew what they were doing, no doubt.  I knew what we had to do.  As we turned the next corner I pulled close to the wall, tugging Yoko along with me.  As the first follower rounded the corner, I kicked out quickly to the head, trying to knock our trailer out.  The person whom I had kicked, a young woman with black hair, in a black jumpsuit, caught my kick in an iron grip.  She was experienced.  She lifted my leg higher, at the same time pushing back on me so I tumbled backwards.  I curled to a backwards roll, rolling to my feet next to Yoko.  Yoko's eyes went wide.  When I looked up, the woman had a gun trained on me, and her two companions, a burly man and a young, lanky man had rounded the corner.  They also held guns, trained on Yoko and I respectively.  

            "Kojiro Kai Li?"  Asked the young woman.

            "That's me.  What do you want?"  I said, indignantly.  She stared at me coldly.

            "We have some questions to ask you.  I think you should come with us."  She nodded to the burly man, who disappeared back around the corner, returning minutes later in a black car.  We were forced in at gunpoint, Yoko leaning close to me as we pulled away from the curb, the burly man's pistol trained at us from the front seat.   They drove us a few blocks further into the slum, pulled over, and herded us into an alley, up a flight of side stairs, and into a small, dark apartment.  Minutes later we found ourselves duct taped into chairs.  The woman, obviously their leader, questioned us.  She was particularly interested in NERV, and kept asking things about the Evas, despite my vague, non-committal answers.  Eventually she got fed up and kicked me. Hard, across the left side where my injury was.  I cringed, and Yoko cried out.  The woman grabbed my collar and pulled me up.

            "Now, tell me, what are the exact power specs for Unit-04?"  I couldn't believe my weakness.  The pain was breaking me. I opened my mouth to answer, and the door broke open.  The Two thugs looked up, and almost immediately two shots rang out before they could draw their guns.  They fell, blood rocketing from close range chest shots.  The woman dropped and rolled, coming up with Yoko's chair between her and the door.  Yoko, despite obvious panic, handled it.  The woman fell to the floor, knocked unconscious by a quick kick, on Yoko's part, to the temple.  Our rescuer entered the room.

            "Kaji?"  I looked on in surprise, "What the hell are you doing here?"

            "NERV's locater modules in your cell phones showed us you'd ended up in a bad part of town.  Misato figured I should come after you.  Looks like her 'women's intuition' served her right yet again."  He cut Yoko loose with a pocketknife, and proceeded to hack away at the duct-tape on my arms.  My arms came loose, and I painfully removed the rest of the tape.

            "Yeeeow!"  

            Kaji led us out the door, jammed the lock, and took us to his car.  We got in, and Yoko looked Kaji's way.

            "Who were those people, Kaji?"

            "That's what I was hoping you could tell me."


	7. Lamentations 0:7

Author's Note: 

            James here.  I would here like to clear up two issues addressed in reviews to preceding chapters.  For one thing, this fic is not a self-insertion.  It's a first-person example of what happens when your stable world is destroyed, granted, this world needs to be built first.  Kojiro's personal successes are nothing more than a build-up for his fall, as is anything in the Eva series. Kojiro has flaws.  He doesn't see them in himself, naturally, but events bring things into focus…

            Secondly, the main character here _is_ Shinji.  He is still more important than any character.  However, as this isn't third person, he isn't ever-present.  

            Thirdly, Kou.  Kou is a very special character.  His obvious flaws are a survival mechanism for… well, I can't say as of yet, just trust that his irrational and cocky behavior will be explained eventually.  

            Sayuri.  Sayuri is a new character for this chapter.  Withhold comments on her character for a few chapters until it is truly developed.  Her interactions with Kou are the most important to notice in the next several chapters.  

            Finally, this is the new chapter.  Enjoy. 

Lamentations 0:7 

Caress

"Rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom

you who live in the land of Uz."

- Lamentations 4:21

            The next day flew by, boring repetitive lessons, comments a la Asuka, and Shinji acting like a complete wussy.  Misato debriefed us about the kidnapping quickly, made a report, and we heard nothing more of it.  Within three hours life was back to normal, and Walker Oden was still playing Playstation in our living room.  He returned to school the next day.  Yoko, Walker, and I packed our bags, passed one last night at the apartment, woke early, locked the door, and went to NERV HQ to gather with the rest of the group.  We were hastily bundled into Misato's car, and were notified that the EVAs were already there, at an offshore platform in 1000 feet of water.  Misato started the drive cheery and awake, with a full case of beer sitting beneath Pen-Pen in the back middle seat of her blue sports car.  Walker sat in front, leaving Yoko and I on either side of Pen-Pen.    
  
            *                                                          *                                                          *

            Misato was passed out in the back seat.  Walker was driving, and I was sitting next to him with Yoko on my lap.  Pen-Pen and Misato had consumed a little too much of the case of beer.   However, the penguin had a higher tolerance, and was just extremely nauseated.  He was holding his head and squawking quietly to himself in the back seat, perched atop Misato's sleeping form.  Yoko was nodding off to sleep as well, leaving Walker and I with the driving.  

            "Sure.  The fucking coast is like twenty minutes from Tokyo-3, and we have to drive seven hours to get to a "special location!"  Thank you, Misato!"   Walker grimaced.   Walker popped a beer.  

            "Dude, you're underage, you're drinking, and you're driving.  Lessee, if you speed, than you can break _three laws!"  I yelled at him.  He took a swig._

            "Walker...  Look, stop at the next little roadside restaurant, we can switch, I'll drive, and you can drink all you want."

            "Sure, dude.  Deal."

            The restaurant wasn't top notch.  Kind of middle class.  We were hungry, and figured we'd have a bite to eat.  The waitress was cute, short-cropped indigo hair.  She took our orders, smiling.  As she walked back to the kitchen I noticed Walker staring at her.

            "She's prettyyyyyyyyyyy!  I wish I knew a few more girls like that!"  Yoko flashed him an angry look.

            "Dream on, Walker," I said, throwing him a smile.  He grimmaced.    The cute waitress returned several minutes later, bearing a tray of food and drinks.  

            "Three colas, a cheeseburger, large salad, and a plate of nachos, extra everything!"  She announced.  Walker stared at the nachos like they were heaven-sends, however, they didn't prevent him from striking up a conversation with the waitress.  He managed to let slip several crucial details, but I was indisposed to stop him, seeing as we were in a restaurant.  By the end, she knew who we were, where we were from, and where we were going.  We polished off the food quickly, Walker bid good-bye to the waitress, we paid the minorly exorbitant bill, and re-boarded Misato's car.  Misato was coming around in the back seat as I started the engine.  She sat up, and Yoko sat down next to her.  As I was about to pull out of the parking lot I found the waitress knocking on my window.  I rolled it down.

            "Hey!  Listen, you guys seem like decent enough people, how about taking a girl for a ride.  You're heading to the coast, right?"  I nodded, "well, my shifts over, and my dad, who owns the restaurant, says I can take some vacation time.  I wouldn't mind a trip to the beach," I looked in the back seat, finding an approving gaze from Yoko, and a dazed look from Misato, "Please.  Pretty please?"  Asked the waitress.

            "Sure, get in," I noticed she was carrying a small overnight bag and popped the trunk, "and put your bag in back."  She dropped her bag in, closed the trunk, and sat down next to Yoko in the backseat.  

            "Well, I feel rude!  I haven't introduced myself!  I'm Sayuri!  Who are you?"

            "I'm Yoko Shinkeshi, and these are Kojiro Kai Li, Walker Oden, Misato Katsuragi, and Pen-Pen."  She and Yoko struck it off well, chatting as we sped down the highway to the beach.  We neared the town we were heading to, according to Misato, and I began to see a few more houses around.  It was getting dark when we finally pulled up to the hotel, which was , truly, quite glamorous.  Misato staggered out, straightened up, and acquired our room keys.  Sayuri checked into a room of her own.  Yoko, Walker and I were, again, sharing quarters.  Walker to a shower first, leaving Yoko and I to stand on the balcony and look out at the ocean in the dark.  A cool sea breeze blew in across my face, tousling Yoko's hair.  I could hear the sounds of the barely visible waves crashing against the shore ten floors down.  

            I let Yoko take the next shower, and sat down on the bed.  Walker was kicked back on the other.  He yawned loudly, slid beneath the sheets, turned off the bedside lamp, and fell asleep, hand still upon the lamp switch.  I lifted it back into his bead, and he rolled to the middle.  I lay down and cleared my eyes, thinking about how easy life was before Eva, before NERV... Before Gendo...  I almost drifted off, but Yoko opening the bathroom door wakened me.  She was wrapped in a pastel green towel, and I attempted to look like I wasn't interested, staring at the wall as she pulled a blue nightgown from her bag and re-entered the bathroom.  I realized I had held my breath the whole time she was there and released it.  Several seconds later she emerged again, wearing the nightgown, and I went in to take a shower.  After a long day in a beer-scented car, a hot shower felt nice.  I unlike Yoko, had brought my pajamas into the bathroom the first time, and had left them on the counter.  I dried off, changed into my pajamas, and exited into the bedroom.  The lights had been switched off, and I felt my way to my suitcase in the dark, dropped my old clothing down and felt my way to the bed Walker wasn't in.  I climbed beneath the warm blanket and closed my eyes to the dark, listening to the foreign sounds, the air conditioner, footsteps in the hallway, the ice machine down the hall.  The sheets in the bed felt foreign, starched to an extreme, almost rough, as my feet slid slowly along them as I endeavored to get comfortable.  I finally ended up on my side, facing the form I could barely make out as Walker in the dark room.  Chilling air hit me from the air conditioner.  Sheets rustled softly, and I felt Yoko's arms encircle me.  I turned over in the dark to face her.  I could hear her breathing and smell the shampoo from her hair.  She pulled close to me, and, as my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could see her eyes glinting with some reflection.  I became conscious of how close we were pressed, her chest rising and falling as she breathed, her breasts pressed against my chest.  I could feel her hands pull me closer to her, and her lips found mine in the dark.  We held it for a few seconds, and she pulled back.  I ran my hands up her back, and she shivered, leaning her head upon my shoulder.  

"Kojiro-kun..." 

"Yoko-chan..." I saw the glint of her eyes stop as they closed, and she leaned in against me and fell asleep in my arms.  I kissed her forehead, then surrendered to sleep myself.  


	8. Lamentations 0:8

Lamentations 0:8 Respite 

"I called your name, O Lord 

from the depths of the pit.

You heard my plea: 

'Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.'"

- Lamentations 3:55

I woke to Yoko shaking me softly.

"Come on!  We're going down to the pool!  Misato's gonna be sleeping off the hangover all day, we've got free time!" 

"Unk..."  I lifted my head.  Walker had a towel over his shoulder, and was already changed into a Tommy Hilfiger bathing suit.  Yoko was in pastel pink Capris, and a loose fitting pastel green shirt.  I ressurrected myself from bed.   They headed down to the pool, the heavy dark wood door closing behind them.  I washed my face and brushed my teeth, changed into my swimsuit and proceeded out the door and down the long, red carpeted hallway, down a flight of stairs, and into the sunlight of the pool deck.  Walker was treading water in the middle of the pool.  Yoko was sunbathing on a deck chair, eyes closed.  I wrested my eyes from her long enough to notice Kou, Shinji, and Asuka by the other end of the large pool.  Asuka was splashing Shinji and telling him he was a dirty, dirty little man.  Shinji half-heartedly blocked the splashing water and flying insults.  Asuka's red and white striped bikini top was bouncing as she flailed wildly, sending waves of water at Shinji.  Kou's green eyes bounced along in time, his head rising and falling as he stared.  Asuka spied him from the corner of her eye, turned, and glared at him.  His eyes were fixed, and he all but managed to duck a powerful right punch from the fiery red-head.  He backed off to a safe distance, followed quickly by Shinji.  I turned away from the action to find Touji flexing his all-too-athletic body for... Sayuri?  Sayuri was smiling, adding insightful comments like, 'nice' and 'that's good!'  Touji was grinning triumphantly.  Ayanami was stretched out on a chair like Yoko.  Her black bathing suit showed no indication of her having swum in the pool at all.  Unlike Yoko, however, here eyes were not closed, and she was staring blankly into the distance.  She looked a little too enchanted with the cloudless sky for any conversation right now, and I dropped into the chair next to Yoko.  Yoko turned her head my way and opened her eyes.

"Finally decided to join us?" she asked.  I nodded.

"Yep.  Looks like Kou and Shinji are getting into trouble... Not to mention Touji..." 

"Is that... the waitress?  Sayuri?  God, I pity her!  Touji's a bag of wind, huh?" 

"Bag of testosterone's more like it!  Uh oh, looks like Asuka's coming their way.  This aughtta be fun!"  Asuka sat down on the foot of Sayuri's chair.  She adopted a mature, responsible look, her face and pose just ringing with responsibility.

"Oh, Touji, give it a rest, can't you see this girl isn't interested in you?" 

"Huh?  But we were just..." Touji protested. Asuka motioned him away.

"Now you go away and leave her alone!"  Asuka frowned at him dramatically.  Touji backed away slowly, making his way to hide with Kou and Shinji.

Asuka turned to Sayuri.

"I must apologize for my... colleague...  He is very immature sometimes"

"It's alright.  Besides," she said, her innocent smile changing to a very adult, sly one, "you're much hotter than he is!  I mean, look at him!  He doesn't have very good muscles, his swimsuit is out of style, and he's just a dumb jock!  You, on the other hand, are a fine specimen." 

"Um..."  Asuka's eyes were wide open in surprise.  She stumbled on her words, and Sayuri continued.

"You're really hot.  Good body.  Really good!  Nice thighs, good posture, cute blue eyes.  All good.  You've got pretty hair, and you're part foreigner.  Exotic, neh?  Some girls don't like that, but I do!  You've got nice legs, your breasts are great, hmmm...  Also, your expression of complete and utter confusion suits you perfectly!  I think we're going to get along well!"  Sayuri traced her hand up Asuka's back, and the dazed girl jumped to her feet.

"You're... You're...  You're not lesbian, are you?  Or are you just pulling my leg?" 

"That's for me to know, and you to find out, darling!" Sayuri winked sexily.  Asuka smiled and backed away slowly.  She managed to back up far enough to fall into the pool, at which Kou and Touji burst into laughter.  Sayuri waved to Yoko and I, and we waved back.  Asuka had extracted herself from the pool, and was angrily berating Touji, whose fault everything had suddenly become. I shook my head and  chuckled.

"Good old Asuka!"  Yoko said, giggling.


End file.
